The Codex Gigas, also known as the Devil's Bible, is famous for three reasons:
1.It is the largest medieval illuminated manuscript in the world.
2.it is written so perfectly and evenly that the feat seems inhuman, and
3.contains a large full-page portrait of the Devil.
Written between 1204 and 1230, the book is 92 cm high, 50 cm wide, 22 cm thick and weighs around 79 kg. It initially contained 320 sheets of vellum purportedly made from the skins of 160 donkeys (at two pages per donkey, the skins would have covered an area of 142.6 square meters), although twelve sheets were removed at an unknown date for some unknown reason. Very large illuminated bibles were a typical feature of monastic book production, but even within this group the page size of the Codex Gigas is exceptional.
The manuscript is written in Carolingian minuscule, a popular and highly legible medieval script. It contains many detailed illuminations, mostly decorated letters and geometric or vegetal forms, except for a squirrel perched on an initial, a portrait of Josephus, and the infamous caricature of the devil.
There are also two images depicting Heaven and Earth complete with the sun, moon, and stars, plus a planet made of sea with no landmasses.
The Codex is bound in a single volume, with thick wooden boards covered in white leather decorated with blind seals, none of which have been seen elsewhere.
Both boards have metal hardware - at all four corners and in the center - each masterfully decorated and containing an embossed button on which the book was supposed to rest. There are two more metal fittings on the back, with a hole that may have been used to chain the Codex to a piece of furniture (as if someone might take it away). The binding was damaged in a fire and in 1819 a Stockholm craftsman rebound it and received 78 riksdaler for materials and labour, for which he could have bought two cows by comparison.
Inside we can read the entire Latin Bible, the Etymological Encyclopedia by Isidore of Seville, the Antiquities of the Jews by Josephus, the Chronicle of Bohemia by Cosme of Prague, as well as numerous writings that describe magical formulas , exorcism rituals and a calendar. .
A National Geographic documentary included interviews with specialists in the areas of writing and forensic analysis, who concluded that it was written by a single scribe, and that the writing alone would have required a minimum of 5 years of full-time, determined work. , plus 20 more for decoration . The scribe would have had to scratch each page before forming the letters, after which 100 lines a day would have been a reasonable goal.
The Legend
What makes the Codex even more intriguing is the nature of the writing, as there are no signs of age, illness, mood, or a natural evolution in style. In fact, its extension, size, detail and perfection are of such extraordinary magnitude that in the Middle Ages a legend about its origin was recorded, stating that it was written by a monk who broke his monastic vows and was sentenced to be walled. live. To avoid this harsh penalty he promised to create a book that would include all human knowledge, and would be ready in one night. When he realized that he could not complete the task alone, he asked the fallen angel Lucifer to help him finish it, in exchange for the soul of the monks. The devil accepted the deal and the monk added the portrait of him in gratitude for his help.
This image of the devil is interesting in itself, as he wears a white loincloth with small red comma-shaped dashes, which have been interpreted as the tails of ermine fur, a common symbol of sovereignty. He also has a forked tongue, an image used in the Bible to denote a dishonest human being. Could the drawing actually be some kind of political commentary?
Here is a quick timeline of the manuscript's hectic life:
From 1204 to 1230, the Codex was probably written at the Podlažice Monastery in the Kingdom of Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic.
1295-Podlažice pawns it to the nearby Sedlec monastery, who sells it to the Benedictine Order of the Břevno Monastery.
1594-Emperor Rudolf II takes the Codex “on loan”, and keeps it in his Prague castle.
1648: Prague is sacked by the Swedish army and the manuscript ends up in Queen Christina's library inside Tre Kronor castle.
1697- The castle burns down and 18,000 books plus 5,700 manuscripts end up in flames. The Devil's Bible survives because someone throws it out of a window, injuring a bystander, and the book's binding is badly damaged.
1768- The manuscript is installed in the newly built Stockholm Palace.
1819 - The book is rebound.
1878- The Codex is magically moved to a new library building in Humlegården Park.
2007 –The manuscript is loaned to Prague, where it is exhibited in the national library.
2018: Becomes a permanent exhibit within the Treasury Room of the Royal Library in Stockholm.
Written by Scott Parikh in Quora september 2022. Digitized, adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.
Leopoldo Costa = violador
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