Monday, 17 December 2012

The Codex Gigas


The Codex Gigas (English: Giant Book) is the largest extant medieval manuscript in the world.  It is also known as the Devil's Bible because of a large illustration of the devil on the inside and the legend surrounding its creation. It is thought to have been created by a  single scribe in the early 13th century in the Benedictine monastery of Podlažice in Bohemia (modern Czech Republic).  It contains the Vulgate Bible as well as many historical documents all written in Latin.  During the Thirty Years' War in 1648, the entire collection was taken by the Swedish army as plunder, and now it is preserved at the National Library of Sweden in Stockholm, though it is not normally on display.  Just the writing alone, not counting the illustrations, would have taken five years of constant writing to complete.


The codex is bound in a wooden folder covered with leather and ornate metal. At 92 cm (36.2in.) tall, 50 cm (19.7in.) wide and 22 cm (8.6in.) thick it is the largest known medieval manuscript.   Weighing 74.8 kg (165 pounds), Codex Gigas is composed of 310 leaves of parchment allegedly made from the skins of 160 donkeys or perhaps calfskin.  It is thought that there were originally 320 leaves, the missing ones perhaps containing the rules of the Benedictines.

The legend goes that it was written by Herman the Recluse a monk who broke his monastic vows and was sentenced to be walled up alive. In order to forbear this harsh penalty he promised to create in one single night a book to glorify the monastery forever, including all human knowledge. Near midnight he became sure that he could not complete this task alone, so he made a special prayer, not addressed to God but to the fallen angel Lucifer, asking him to help him finish the book in exchange for his soul. The devil completed the manuscript and the monk added the devil's picture out of gratitude for his aid.


The devil's picture seen here in a facsimile of the Codex.

15 comments:

  1. Wow, that's quite an interesting legend. How do you come up with all these things you post about?

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    1. I sometimes come across them on other people's blogs. Sometimes they are bits of knowledge from days gone by (usually refreshed to remind myself of the details). And sometimes they are just titbits picked up on television or courtesy of The Great God Google and the Goddess Wiki.

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  2. This is an education,John! The will to write was just amazing. Thanks for sharing!

    Hank

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  3. What a great story! Dude must have lived in Norway, where "night" lasts for months! 8-)

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    1. I love that, Marcheline! Would it still count as one night? hmm...

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    2. And are we sure that drawing was of Lucifer? Oh... that's right, monks don't have mother-in-laws.

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  4. How come I have never been told about the Codex Gigas in all the years I trained for and worked at the library? This is something every librarian should know about!
    At least I know it now, thanks to you :-)

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    1. I had never heard of it either until I came across it on a blog the other day. I wonder why it is so little known?

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  5. We owe a lot to those dedicated scribes.

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  6. Good job that they don't wall people up alive for breaking their vows these days. The Great Wall of China wouldn't have enough cavities.

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  7. Well, if Lucifer did help him, his drawing of Lucifer was hardly complimentary! I have done some studies of early manuscripts of the Bible and seen a number of them in the British Library but I hadn't heard of this one. The history of the old texts and manuscripts of the Bible is something I find fascinating. To be walled up alive or to sell my soul to the devil is not much of a choice! Great story.

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  8. Oh, wonderful legend..gave me the chills! Thanks for this interesting post and something new to add to my "I never knew this" page!

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  9. Wow, I have never heard of this! It is amazing and unique~
    I love the story, so intriguing and odd. Fascinating! I am so glad you shared! Thank you~

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  10. I've heard of it but I've never heard (or never took in) how big it is. The pictures I've seen before did not have people in them to compare the size with!

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  11. Interesting but also interesting that it should survive.

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