In the way of summary of the quotes about the Nicholas expedition I would like to make the following points
1) There appears to have been an expedition.
2) The expedition was at least in part a voyage of
discovery - this is the
whold point
of Nicholas' / Cnoyen's book. Rergardless of the
truth of what was involved
or seen in
the expedition, the nature of it is the most core
issue.
3) There were Norsemen involved in the expediton.
This would not be third
hand
information to Conyen, but at the very least second
hand from Bardson.
Possibly Cnoyen
was in Bergen when the ship arrived from Greenland.
4) 8 people returned from the expedition to Bergen
(see 3).
5) This occurred in 1364.
6) The expedition was purported to have gone beyond
Greenland into
unexplored regions of
the North. There is, of course, the possibility
that it only went as far as
west
Greenland, where Nicholas sat down and made up the
rest of the journey,
however,
7) Certain aspects of the expediton reported by Cnoyen,
seem to fit in with
the actual
aspects of the region. This could be 'wsihful thinking'
- I have laid what
I know out,
people can make what they will of it in that regard.
I note again, though,
that Beste,
one of the first to sail those waters, believed Nicholas
(Cnoyen)'s work to
be true and
accurate.
8) Nicholas also writes of a 'sucking sea' , which,
if true, can only refer
to Hudson
Bay - he also states that he saw the SW coast of
that sea.
I have tried to lay these out in order of probability,
that is, point one is
the most
likely to be true, and should be given more weight
than the later points.
All of these
points fit the scenario outlined in the KRS, and
can be looked at as
pointing to the
veracity of that document.