When the Norse sailed across the Atlantic they landed in Greenland and Newfoundland. There they had encounters with the indigenous communities of Newfoundland as well as the Inuit of Greenland. My question is did people in Europe know about those contacts the Vikings had with the indigenous communities in some way shape or form?
The reason I ask is because I have read in sources that not only where there Norse settlements in Greenland and Canada. But you had some Inuit who were taken back with the Norse to Scandinavia. Not only that the Catholic Church established bishoprics in Greenland where there would have been contact with the Inuit. This part to me is crucial and interesting because we know the Catholic Church has a pretty centralised structure where they kept detailed records on things and events that took place, including the various dioceses and bishoprics in the Church. So if you had Catholic Bishoprics in a place like Greenland wouldn't the Catholic Church at least have known that there was a Norse contact and indigenous communities across the Atlantic?
To my knowledge, none of the answers currently available discuss the knowledge of indigenous peoples in this context.
As a resource until you can get a proper answer, here are some dealing with general knowledge:
What knowledge did mainland Europeans have of Iceland, Greenland and Vinland during the Middle Ages? written by u/y_sengaku
Did word of the New World discovered by Leif Ericson ever get to the Western Europeans? written by u/Jvlivs and u/Searocksandtrees
I suppose this one among my previous answers might be the closest to what is OP looking for: Why did the Scandinavians forget about the SKraeling (Inuit Peoples) after Viking Contact? Or did people in Iceland and Norway maintain contact with Greenland?
Unfortunately, none of medieval (pre-Columbian) European (i.e. out of Scandinavian) texts that mention Greenland also allude to the existence of inhabitants there.
But you had some Inuit who were taken back with the Norse to Scandinavia.
/u/Platypuskeeper and I discussed the provenance of the Inuit canoes allegedly hanged on the wall of the pre-reformation Cathedral of Oslo in: When did the Viking colonization of America become accepted by historians?
Except for these canoes (umiaks?), an account of late 14th century [non-Greenlandic] Norse captain Einar, mentioned in my first linked answer, is only the possibly medieval record that the Norse-Scandinavian people actually took some Inuits out of Scandinavia. Einar's account is, however, unfortunately only transmitted to us as not so trustworthy form, the 17th century copy.
So, the Scandinavians certainly knew the existence of indigenous people in Greenland.
On the other hand, we have no positive written evidence that any of Old-Norse (or any other Scandinavian origin) primary texts that mentioning the Skrealings got attention in pre-Columbian Europe out of Scandinavia.
......because we know the Catholic Church has a pretty centralised structure where they kept detailed records on things and events that took place, including the various dioceses and bishoprics in the Church. So if you had Catholic Bishoprics in a place like Greenland wouldn't the Catholic Church at least have known that there was a Norse contact and indigenous communities across the Atlantic?
In short answer, the centralized hierarchy of medieval Catholic church had not been developed fully when the Norse people settled in Greenland (the end of the 10th century). After the establishment of Bishopric Gardar, Greenland, in 1126, and subsequent re-structure of Scandinavian ecclesiastical organization in the middle of the 12th century, Archbishop of Trondheim/ Nidaros in Norway took over the direct jurisdiction over the bishop of Gardar, and it was he generally mediated some inquiries on the field in medieval Notse Greenland to the Papacy.
The Norwegian-North Atlantic church province itself, however, was situated in the north-western fringe of Latin Christendom, and neither of regular communication between Greenland and Norway nor even that between Norway and the Papacy was easy to maintain. The Papacy also generally showed little interest in strengthening the the contact with this periphery, in contrast to more southern Baltic region.
The oldest possible evidence of such an inquiry from Greenland is found in a series of replies given by Alexander III to the province in 1169/70, and it mainly deals with the special lifting of incest marriage (loosening of 7th degree to the 4th, preceding the general lifting of this prohibition in Lateran IV (1215)) on a certain island remote from any other lands. The letter say nothing on their possible encounter with the skrealings (that is mentioned in contemporary Historia Norvegie, Latin work written in Norway). In other words, the Norse inhabitants of medieval Greenland were more interested in asking how to keep Christian way of life in their own secluded community rather than in reporting the discovery of another non-Christian people (Anyway, the skrealings were not only non-Christian people even within medieval Scandinavia - the Scandinavians also had the Finns (Sámi) as their neighbors). This established pattern would be followed in later generations in the 13th and 14th centuries.
Next possible inquiry to the Papacy on the local circumstance in Greenland (though not limited to Greenland) in the 13th century is: Is was OK to substitute some liturgical wines and holy waters (for baptism) with something else like beer, since it is not so easy to obtain grape/ wine in the locality (Cf. Kaufhold 1997). A bishop of Gardar, Greenland, actually asked his friend, Bishop of Bergen, to find and to sent dried grapes for the making of liturgical wine substitute (?) in the beginning of the 14th century.
It was indeed very difficult for Norwegian archbishop to keep their eyes closely on Greenland, as prescribed in more general decrees of Lateran IV. To give an example, regular attendance to the provincial church council of the bishop of Greenland in person was never observed, since it was nearly impossible to inform the bishop of the exact place and date of the council, and secured way of traveling to Norway in time beforehand. It also took more than a year or two for the news of the death of the bishop of Greenland on field to reach Norway, and the vacancy of the bishopric of Gardar in medieval Greenland sometimes lasted very long.
Famous (?) Ivar Bårdson, who also wrote on the Skrealings as well as the alleged demise of Western Norse settlements in Greenland, was an officialis acting for the bishop(s) on field who sometimes got to Greenland more than a year after his consecration in Norway. As for Ivar's case, he had to act for the bishop in Greenland more than 15 years (from 1342/3 to 1364) due to the troubles (including consecration of the bishop to Greenland) in Norwegian church in the middle of the 14th century. Bishop Jón skalli of Gardar, consecrated in 1343 as a new bishop by the archbishop while the older, rebellious bishop Arne was still on office in Greenland, could not follow the step of Ivar to get to Greenland soon - The arrival of the Black Death wiped the clergy out from the Norwegian church, regardless of their ranks, and Jón of Gardar was only one of the two survived bishops who had stayed in Norway, so he also acted for the archbishop and other demised bishops first in Norway, not in Greenland (he also got transferred to Hólar, Iceland, in 1357 where it was also vacant and more important bishopric). In other words, Officialis Ivar had to wait for the bishop, his nominal superior, more than 15 years on field in medieval Norse Greenland, and continued to administer daily Christian rituals on his behalf.
Sorry for digress, the point of this latter part is: It was clear that all the news in Greenland, including the Skrealings, did not reach to the Papacy. Thus, the famous papal document on the bishop of Greenland in 1448 did not necessarily guarantee the real-time continuity of Greenlandic settlement.
The Papacy also claimed the nominal appointment/ approval of papal favored candidate to the vacant see across Europe (papal provision) aimed for additional income in course of late 13th and 14th centuries, and Regent (Queen) Margrethe of Denmark offered the majority of the high-rank ecclesiastical posts both in Norway and in the North Atlantic as well to the Papacy to get support for her and her protege's dynastic succession, Kalmar Union (Cf. Haug 1996). These appointees usually never set foot in person in field, and let actual daily administration of the church to someone else.
Thus, Greenlandic diocese of Gardar could keep 'alive' on the papal document, regardless of its actual circumstances on field.
Additional References: