of no historical or scientific value), fixed upon the vicinity of Boston, where now stand a Leif Ericsson statue and Horsford's Norumbega Tower as testimonials to the Norse explorers. But in 1887 Professor Storm announced his conviction that the lands visited by the Norsemen in the early part of the 11th century were Labrador, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. And a careful reading of the Hauk's Book narrative seems to show that the numerous details of the saga fit Nova Scotia remarkably well, and much better than any other part of the continent. This view has in recent years been quite generally accepted by American scholars. But in 1910 Professor M. L. Fernald, a botanist of Harvard University, published a paper in Rhodora, vol. 12, No. 134, in which he contends that it is most probable that the "vinber" of the sagas were not "grapes," but "wine berries," also known as the mountain or rock cranberries. The "self-sown wheat" of the sagas he identifies as strand wheat, instead of Indian corn, or wild rice, and the mosur trees as the canoe birch. He thinks the natives were Eskimos, instead of American Indians, as stoutly maintained by John Fiske. Professor Fernald concludes his paper by saying that: "The mass of evidence which the writer has in hand, and which will soon be ready for publication, makes it clear that, if we read the sagas in the light of what we know of the abundant occurrence north of the St Lawrence of the 'vinber' (Vaccinium Vilis-Idaea or possibly Ribes triste, R. prostratum, or R. lacustre), 'hveiti' (Elymus arenarius), and 'mosur' (Betula alba, i.e . B. papyrifera of many botanists), the discrepancies in geography, ethnology and zoology, which have been so troublesome in the past, will disappear; other features, usually considered obscure, will become luminous; and the older and less distorted sagas, at least in their main incidents, will become vivid records of actual geographic exploration."
It is possible that Professor Fernald may show conclusively that Leif's landfall was north of the St Lawrence. That the "vinber" were mountain cranberries would explain the fact, mentioned in the Flatey Book saga, that Leif filled his after boat with "vinber" in the spring, which is possible with the cranberries, as they are most palatable after having lain under the snow for the winter. But Thorfinn Karlsefni found no abundance of "vinber," in fact one of his followers composed some verses to express his disappointment on this score. "Vines" were found only in the southernmost regions visited by Karlsefni. It is to be noted that the word "vines" is more prominent in the Hauk's Book narrative than the word "vinber." At present it does not seem likely that Professor Fernald's argument will seriously affect Professor Storm's contention that Thorfinn's colony was in Nova Scotia. At any rate, the incontrovertible facts of the Vinland voyages are that Leif and Thorfinn were historical characters, that they visited, in the early part of the 11th century, some part of the American continent south-west of Greenland, that they found natives whose hostility prevented the founding of a permanent settlement, and that the sagas telling of these things are, on the whole, trustworthy descriptions of actual experience.
Bibliography.—The bibliography of this subject is large, but adequate documents, accounts and discussions may be found in the following modern works: Gustav Storm, Studies on the Vineland Voyages (Copenhagen, 1889); Arthur M. Reeves, The Finding of Wineland, the Good (London, 1890 and 1895); John Fiske, The Discovery of America, vol. i (Boston, 1892); Juul Dieserud, "Norse Discoveries in America," in Bulletin of the American Geographical Society, vol. xxxiii. (New York, 1901); Gadbrandr Vigfússon and F. Yorke Powell, Origines Islandicae (Oxford, 1905); and Julius E. Olson and others, The Northmen, Columbus and Cabot, 985-1503(New York, 1906), the first volume of Original Narratives of Early American History.
(J. E. O.)
VINOGRADOFF, PAUL (1854), Anglo-Russian jurist, was born at Kostroma in Russia. He became professor of history in the university of Moscow, but his zeal for the spread of education brought him into conflict with the authorities, and consequently he was obliged to leave Russia. Having settled in England, Vinogradoff brought a powerful and original mind to bear upon the social and economic conditions of early England, a subject which he had already begun to study in Moscow. His Villainage in England (1892) is perhaps the most important book written on the peasantry of the feudal age and the village community in England; it can only be compared for value with F. W. Maitland's Domesday Book and Beyond. In masterly fashion Vinogradoff here shows that the villein of Norman times was the direct descendant of the Anglo-Saxon freeman, and that the typical Anglo-Saxon settlement was a free community, not a manor, the position of the freeman having steadily deteriorated in the centuries just around the Norman Conquest. The status of the villain and the conditions of the manor in the 12th and 13th centuries are set forth with a legal precision and a wealth of detail which shows its author, not only as a very capable historian, but also as a brilliant and learned jurist. Almost equally valuable was Vinogradoff's essay on "Folkland" in vol. viii. of the English Historical Review (1893), which proved for the first time the real nature of this kind of land. Vinogradoff followed up his Villainage in England with The Growth of the Manor (1905) and English Society in the 11th Century (1908), works on the lines of his earlier book. In 1903 he was appointed Corpus professor of jurisprudence in the university of Oxford, and subsequently became a fellow of the British Academy. He received honorary degrees from the principal universities, was made a member of several foreign academies and was appointed honorary professor of history at Moscow.
VINOY, JOSEPH (1803–1880), French soldier, was originally intended for the Church, but, after some years at a seminary, he decided upon a military career, and entered the army in 1823. When he was a sergeant in the 14th line infantry, he took part in the Algerian expedition of 1830. He won his commission at the capture of Algiers, and during the subsequent campaigns he rose by good service to the rank of colonel. He returned to France in 1850, and in the Crimean War served under Caurobert as general of brigade. For his brilliant conduct at the Malakoff he was promoted general of division, and he led a division of Niel's corps in the campaign of Solferino. Retired on account of age in 1865, he was recalled to active service on the outbreak of the war of 1870, and after the early reverses was put at the head of the XIII. army corps, which, fortunately for France, did not arrive at the front in time to be involved in the catastrophe of Sedan. By a skilful retreat he brought his corps intact to Paris on September 7th. Vinoy during the siege commanded the III. army operating on the south side of the capital and took part in all the actions in that quarter. On Trochu's resignation he was appointed to the supreme command, in which capacity he had to negotiate the surrender. During the commune he held important commands in the army of Versailles, and occupied the burning Tuileries. and the Louvre on May 23rd. He was in the same year made grand chancellor of the Legion of Honour.
Vinoy wrote several memoirs on the war of 1870–71; Opérations de I'armée pendant le siege de Paris (1872), L'Armistice et la commune (1872), L'Armee française (1873).
VINT, a Russian card-game. It is generally considered as the immediate ancestor of Bridge (q.v.). Vint means in Russian "screw," and is given to the game because the four players, each in turn, propose, bid and overbid each other until one, having bid higher than the others care to follow, makes the trump, his vis-d-vis becoming his partner. It has many points of resemblance to Bridge. The cards have the same rank; the score of tricks is entered under the line, and points for slam, penalties and honours above the line; while the value of the different suits is the same as in Bridge: spades, clubs, diamonds, hearts and "no trumps." In a "no trump" declaration aces only count as honours; in a suit declaration both the aces and the five next highest cards. During the progress of the bidding and declaring, opportunity is taken by the players to indicate by their calls their strength in the various suits and the high cards they hold, so that, when the playing begins, the position of the best cards and the strength of the different hands can often be fairly accurately estimated.
