That's fascinating, thanks for the link. Just to provide a little more support for the admittedly weaker argument I made earlier: the knowledge of the lands dis

That's fascinating, thanks for the link. Just to provide a little more support for the admittedly weaker argument I made earlier: the knowledge of the lands discovered by the Norse was extensively recorded by Catholic priests, and their works were read for centuries in Europe. https://books.google.ca/books?id=SaXuAgAAQBAJ&pg=PR8&lpg=PR8&dq=vinland+catholic+book&source=bl&ots=V5L0qUwcMa&sig=BfsvBlmFWd6xn-4dL8PP9xcpcRY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjEytrAg77PAhUPzGMKHZKxAEwQ6AEIIzAE#v=onepage&q&f=false https://books.google.ca/books?id=SaXuAgAAQBAJ&pg=PR8&lpg=PR8... and Christopher Columbus, as a literate Catholic, could conveivably have had access to this knowledge. The Catholic Church may very well have had an interest in these lands as potential places to spread its faith to. The Church even had a bishop in the Norse colonies in Finland. But yes, clearly the legends you mention were much more prominent in the public consciousness of the time.