A matchbox placed on the Codex Gigas to demonstrate its size. Image Courtesy: The National Library of Sweden
Image Courtesy: The National Library of Sweden
Gustaf Liljegren reading the Devil’s Bible in 1905. Image Courtesy – The National Library of Sweden.
The National Library of Sweden
The Codex Gigas
The Codex Gigas is the largest extant medieval manuscript in the world. It contains the entire bible except for Book of Revelation, the book about the fight between God and the Devil. It was bound in a wooden folder covered with leather and ornate metal. The book measures ninety-two centimetres by fifty, and weighs about seventy-five kilograms. Composed of 310 leaves of vellum allegedly made from the skins of 160 donkeys and calves, the Codex contained the entire Bible, except for the Acts of the Apostles and the Book of Revelation, which detailed the fight between good and evil, God and the Devil. The entire document was written in Latin, with additional Hebrew, Greek and Slavic alphabets.
The legend
According to legend, a Benedictine monk—Herman the Recluse—from the Podlažice Monastery in today’s Czech Republic was sentenced to be walled up alive for breaking his monastic vows. In order to escape this slow and horrible death, he offered to write a book containing all the knowledge in the world in one night to escape his sentence. The monks agreed to let him try, knowing that the task would be impossible.
As the deadline loomed, Herman realised he would never finish the task alone. At midnight, he made a special prayer to the fallen angel Lucifer, asking him to finish the book in exchange for his soul. Lucifer—the Devil—agreed, and completed the Codex Gigas that very night. Herman then added the Devil’s picture on the 209th page in the book, out of gratitude for his aid. This book soon became known as the Devil’s Bible.
The Unexplained
Through analysing the handwriting and style, experts concurred that the Devil’s Bible was written and illustrated by the same person and that it would have taken approximately twenty years working all day every day to complete the task.
Experts concurred that, mysteriously, the writing and illustrations showed no signs of the author aging and that there were no mistakes in the entire book. No other work of this author had been identified and where he was trained was unknown.
The Benedictine monastery of Podlažice was a small, obscure monastery. It still remains a mystery as to how such a small monastery could have garnered the resources for the creation of such a massive book.
There are twelve pages missing from the Devil’s Bible. The content of the missing pages of one of the most famous medieval books has never been documented. The twelve missing pages are rumoured to contain the Devil’s Prayer.
The Devil’s Bible today
In 1648, the Devil’s Bible was taken as war booty by the Swedes. Today you can see the Devil’s Bible which is preserved in the Kungliga Biblioteket or National Library of Sweden and on display to the general public, except of course for the twelve missing pages.