Codex Gigas

Devil s Book

The Codex Gigas (English: Giant Book) is the largest extant medieval illuminated manuscript in the world, at 92 cm (36 in) long.It is also known as the Devil's Bible because of a very unusual full-page portrait of the devil, and the legend surrounding its creation.

It was created in the early 13th century in the Benedictine monastery of Podlažice in Bohemia (modern Czech Republic). It contains the complete Vulgate Bible as well as other popular works, all written in Latin. Between the Old and New Testaments are a selection of other popular medieval reference works: Josephus's Antiquities of the Jews and De bello iudaico, Isidore of Seville's encyclopedia Etymologiae, the chronicle of Cosmas of Prague,[2] and medical works; these are an early version of the Ars medicinae compilation of treatises, and two books by Constantine the African.

Eventually finding its way to the imperial library of Rudolf II in Prague, the entire collection was taken as spoils of war by the Swedish in 1648 during the Thirty Years' War, and the manuscript is now preserved at the National Library of Sweden in Stockholm, although it is no longer on display for the general public.

Very large illuminated bibles were a typical feature of Romanesque monastic book production, but even within this group the page-size of the Codex Gigas is exceptional.

According to legend, the Codex was created by Herman the Recluse in the Benedictine monastery of Podlažice near Chrudim in the Czech Republic. The monastery was destroyed sometime in the 15th century during the Hussite Revolution. Records in the codex end in the year 1229. The codex was later pledged to the Cistercians Sedlec Monastery and then bought by the Benedictine monastery in Břevnov. From 1477 to 1593, it was kept in the library of a monastery in Broumov until it was taken to Prague in 1594 to form a part of the collections of the Emperor Rudolf II.

At the end of the Thirty Years' War in 1648, the entire collection was taken as war booty by the Swedish army. From 1649 to 2007, the manuscript was kept in the Swedish Royal Library in Stockholm.The site of its creation is marked by a maquette in the town museum of Chrast.

On Friday, 7 May 1697, a fierce fire broke out at the royal castle in Stockholm, and the Royal Library suffered very badly. The codex was rescued from the flames by being thrown out of a window. This damaged the binding and knocked loose some pages which are still missing today. According to the vicar Johann Erichsons, the codex landed on and injured a bystander. In September 2007, after 359 years, the Codex Gigas returned to Prague on loan from Sweden until January 2008, and was on display at the Czech National Library.

A National Geographic documentary included interviews with manuscript experts who argued that certain evidence (handwriting analysis and a credit to Hermann Inclusus – "Herman the Recluse") indicates the manuscript was indeed the work of just one scribe.