hi! It seems that knowledge did spread, at least in Greenland, Iceland, Denmark, England, & Germany. It would be fantastic if an expert could comment on what Europeans thought of Vinland/Markland/Helluland in terms of significance; meanwhile, here's a round-up of related questions so you can catch up with the discussion so far:

• Is there any evidence that Christopher Columbus (and other 15th century explorers) knew of Lief Erickson's travels and the Viking settlements in the New World?

• Did word of the New World discovered by Leif Ericson ever get to the Western Europeans?

• Did the rest of Europe know about the Vikings' discovery of America?

• Are any of the pre-Columbus maps of America real?

• How did the Nordic countries react to the 1490-1500s New World discoveries? - i.e. versus what they already knew