Bargain with the devil and you may wind up with a golden fiddle, supernatural guitar playing ability, or a room full of gleaming alchemized straw.
Whoops, we misattributed that last one. It’s actually Rumpelstiltskin’s doing, but the by-morning-or-else deadline that drives the Brothers Grimm favorite is not dissimilar to the ultimatum posed to disgraced medieval monk Hermann the Recluse: produce a giant book that glorifies your monastery and includes all human knowledge by sunrise, or we brick you up Cask of Amontillado-style.
Why else would a book as high-minded as the Codex Gigas (Latin for Giant Book) contain a full page glamour portrait of the devil garbed in an ermine loincloth and cherry red claws?
Perhaps it’s the 13th-century equivalent of “sex sells.” What better way to keep your book out of the remainder bin of history than to include an eye-catching glimpse of the Prince of Darkness? Hedge your bets by positioning a splendid vision of the Heavenly City directly opposite.
Notable illustrations aside, the Codex Gigas holds the distinction of being the largest extant medieval illuminated manuscript in the world.
Weighing in at 165 lbs, this 3-foot tall bound whale required the skins of 160 donkeys, at the rate of two pages per donkey. (Ten pages devoted to St. Benedict’s rules for monastic life were literally cut from the manuscript at an unknown date.)
It’s a lot.
A National Geographic documentary concluded that the sprawling manuscript would’ve required a minimum of 5 years of full-time, single-minded labor. More likely, the work was spread out over 25 to 30 years, with various authors contributing to the different sections. In addition to a complete Bible, the “Devil’s Bible” includes an encyclopedia, medical information, a calendar of saints’ days, Flavius Josephus’ histories The Jewish War and Jewish Antiquities and some practical advice on exorcising evil spirits.
The actual lettering does seem to come down to a single scribe with very neat handwriting. Experts at National Library of Sweden, where the Codex Gigas has come to a rest after centuries of adventures and misadventures, identify it as carolingian minuscule, a popular and highly legible style of medieval script. Its uniform size would’ve required the scribe to rule each page before forming the letters, after which 100 lines a day would have been a reasonable goal.
You can have a look for yourself on the Library’s website, where the entire work is viewable in digitized form.
Certainly the devil is a great place to start, though his appearance may strike you as a bit comical, given all the fuss.
For viewers unsure of where to start, the library has compiled a guide to the highlights.
You’ll also find a lot of interesting historical detail: relocations resulting from the Hussite Wars and the Thirty Years’ War, a close call with fire, and of course the attendant legends.
Begin your explorations of the Codex Gigas here.
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Ayun Halliday is an author, illustrator, theater maker and Chief Primatologist of the East Village Inky zine. Join her in NYC on Monday, April 23 for the third installment of her literary-themed variety show, Necromancers of the Public Domain. Follow her @AyunHalliday.
That Mystery History video is really made by idiots, for idiots. The manuscript is utterly fascinating, no need for the moronic BS.
I am one of those ‘idiots’ whoI found Mystery History video very interesting
I am one of those ‘idiots’ who enjoy Mystery History video
That video was absurd. No serious scholar would believe that a person wrote that entire book in a single night. It’s fine to report legends, but it sounds foolish presenting obviously false ones as fact.
I understand the way you think of it but its said that he was locked away sentenced to death and so he started the book he knew we was not able to finish it in one night so he offered hes soul to the devil to finish the book for him legend has it the book was written by the devil himself at the end of the day it’s all in your beliefs
Contact me on +91 8209494963, I have the clear photos of each and every page of the book from first one to the last one, My uncle worked in the same museum the book was kept
I will like to have a look please
If any one have full book please send me
The last ten pages are missing from the book wonder why 🤔
Can u please send me online ? i mean i cant contact you with just a phone number !
Only the serious can contact me by texting me on this number
+1442 444 1653. My parents most of their lives in the museum where the book is kept. It’s also available in stocks
From what I have read about it it originally had 320 pages, TWELVE more than the current 310. HOW would anyone NOW KNOW what they contained, and WHY would anyone have ripped out 12 pages of the rules of the Benedictines? I suspect from certain indications of the Devil image and the city image that they had to do with ALCHEMY, and Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II in whose personal possession the book last was known for his interest in the alchemical transmutation of base metals into gold as well as other occult matters. The so-called “Voynich Manuscript” was also in his possession and it’s indications are it had to do with the same thing! I won’t get into the details unless somebody asks me and I am currently studying the issue deeper. In the meantime I’ll let you all notice them for yourselves. BUT I will mention that I find the swirlstem design at the side of the page illustrated here VERY SIGNificant. It is Celtic in style NOT Slavic, as the monks in the monastery were that produced it and I think it is a chronogram, or symbol referring to the length of time it took to produce the book. There are FIVE swirls of FIVE loops or circles each, EXCEPT for the top sixth smaller one which has four loops/circles. Since five x five is TWENTY-FIVE I would AGREE this way with the given estimate that it took (roughly) TWENTY-FIVE YEARS (and four months) to produce the book!!!!
I’d like to know what the commandments are
Can u translate sentences of devils bible in Google with their meanings please,please,please I will give u anything you need or try to explain everything about that book☠☠
Hello. This book seems interesting. Does it have research value? Thanks.
Hey if you still doing a deep study on all of this stuffs can we get in touch somehow n discuss more about it cuz I’m sending matters getting critical currently. Drop me a text on my email benzy1050@gmail.com or insta:@benzygomezz to get in touch … Thank you ✨