The Codex Gigas – more romantically known as the Devil’s Bible is the largest medieval manuscript in existence. It is so called because of an inscription of a large devil on one of the pages. This 13th century manuscript is treated to adjectives such as sinister, strange, diabolical, bizarre, and such.
The Codex Gigas weighs a staggering 165 pounds and it takes two people to lift it. It is considered to have been made from the skins of either 160 calves or donkeys. Nobody really knows what a full-page portrait of Satan is doing on the Codex Gigas but it’s there all red, green,and ugly staring at you. One legend states that the book was created in one night by a monk who sold his soul to the Devil. The monk had been sentenced to death for having breached the codes of his monastery. The book is supposed to hold the sum of all human knowledge. It contains spells, charms, and violent incantations that can help you cure anything from fever to epilepsy and help you find hidden treasures, etc.
Very interestingly, for such a long book of nearly 600 pages, the Codex Gigas shows remarkable consistency in fonts and writing style suggesting that it was completed in a short time. Also, after page 290, on which the image of the devil appears, the tone changes to one of freshness. Almost as if the devil took over from the doomed monk at this point and helped him complete the manuscript.
If you wish to see the Codex Gigas you will have to travel to The National Library of Sweden in Stockholm where it is presently preserved.
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