Once Eirikur had rejected Christianity, crusades against the pagan Norse of the New World was inevitable as soon as Europe had the manpower to spare. The slow development of sailing technology, the Black Death, the onset of the Little Ice Age and the Holy Land Crusades all made the Europeans reluctant to contribute large numbers to the subjugation of pagans occupying such a marginal territory (as they believed). Thus until the 15th century the Greenland pagans were viewed by the rest of Europe as a Scandinavian problem.