MAP91: The Devil’s Bible

Medieval Archives

Codex Gigas: The Devil’s Bible

We’ve entered the spooky season and today we are looking at a mysterious manuscript called the Codex Gigas, Latin for Giant book. It lives up to it’s name measuring over 3 feet long, 2 feet wide, 9 inches thick, over 500 fully illuminated pages and weighing in at 170 pounds!

There’s more to it besides its massive size though. Legend has it the book was written in one night, by a single monk, a monk condemned to death who sold his soul to the Devil to complete the work. As a gift to the devil the monk put a two foot illustration of the devil in the book.

The unknown origins and the picture of the devil give the book its more common name, The Devil’s Bible.

Herman the Recluse

Herman broke his monastic vows and was condemned to death by immurement (buried alive) for his sins.

The night before the sentence was carried out Herman pleaded with the Abbot to spare his life. Herman told the Abbot he would write a book containing all earthly knowledge and glorifying the monastery.

The Abbot agreed, but told Herman he must complete the book before morning.

In fear and desperation Herman summoned the Devil and made a deal. The Devil would help Herman complete the book and Herman would give up his soul.

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The Devil’s Bible

The Devil’s Bible does contain a lot of knowledge from the Middle Ages. Herman included the following works:

• Two Hebew Alphabets
• The Vulgate Bible (without the Book of Acts and the Book of Revelation
• Antiquities of the Jews
• The Jewish War
• Etymologies
• Art of Medicine
• Aphorisms of Hippocrates
• Chronica Boemorum
• And much much more!

We also discussed Jan Hus and the Hussite Wars. A topic covered on Episode 56.

See the Devil’s Bible at the National Library of Sweden 🇸🇪 website: https://www.kb.se/in-english/the-codex-gigas.html

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The Devil’s Bible Photos

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Intro music provided by Tim Rayburn. It is available at Magnatune.com