The Codex Gigas: The Devil’s Bible

The Codex Gigas, Latin for “Giant Book,” is the largest extant medieval manuscript in the world. Measuring 36 inches tall and weighing 165 pounds, it contains a complete Latin Bible, historical texts, medical formulas, and most famously, a full-page illustration of the Devil. Legend holds that the book was written in a single night with Satan’s help.

The Manuscript

The Codex Gigas was created in the early thirteenth century, likely in the Benedictine monastery of Podlažice in Bohemia (modern Czech Republic). It contains 310 parchment pages, made from the skins of approximately 160 donkeys. The writing and illumination are consistent throughout, suggesting a single scribe.

The contents include the complete Vulgate Bible, Isidore of Seville’s encyclopedia “Etymologiae,” Josephus’s “Antiquities of the Jews,” medical texts, a calendar with necrology, a list of monks from the Podlažice monastery, and various other texts.

Most strikingly, page 290 features a full-page illustration of the Devil. He is depicted alone on the page, crouching with clawed hands raised, wearing an ermine loincloth, his face twisted and tongue protruding. The facing page shows the Heavenly City—good and evil in direct confrontation.

The Legend

According to legend, the codex was created by a monk who had been sentenced to death for breaking his vows. He promised to create in a single night a book containing all human knowledge, thereby glorifying the monastery forever. By midnight, realizing he could not complete the task, he prayed to Lucifer for help. The Devil completed the book in exchange for the monk’s soul, and the monk added the Devil’s portrait in gratitude.

Modern analysis has thoroughly disproven this origin. The consistent handwriting, the quality of the illumination, and the sheer scale of the work indicate that one scribe worked on the manuscript for an estimated 20 to 30 years. Nevertheless, the legend persists.

Historical Journey

The Codex Gigas has had a tumultuous history. It remained at Podlažice monastery until that institution’s destruction. It then passed to the monastery at Břevnov, then to Prague. In 1648, Swedish troops looted Prague at the end of the Thirty Years’ War and took the codex to Stockholm, where it remains in the National Library of Sweden.

In 2007, the Codex Gigas returned to Prague for a temporary exhibition—its first return to Czech lands in 359 years. Hundreds of thousands of visitors came to see it.

Alleged Curse

Throughout its history, the Codex Gigas has been associated with misfortune. Monasteries that possessed it were destroyed. The Night of the Swedes, when it was taken, was followed by years of hardship for Bohemia. A fire at the Stockholm royal castle in 1697 nearly destroyed it; the book was allegedly thrown from a window to save it, landing on a bystander and injuring him.

Whether these incidents constitute a curse or simply the normal misfortunes that accumulate over eight centuries is a matter of perspective.

Scientific Study

Modern analysis has revealed much about the manuscript’s creation. The parchment was sourced from a single region. The ink composition is consistent throughout. The scribe appears to have been unusually skilled and patient, working steadily for decades.

The purpose of the Devil illustration remains debated. Some scholars see it as a moral warning; others as a memorial to the legend of the book’s creation; still others as a reflection of medieval theological interest in depicting evil.

Assessment

The Codex Gigas is a genuine historical artifact of extraordinary craftsmanship and mysterious purpose. The legend of its diabolic creation is false, but it speaks to how people across centuries have responded to something so unusual that natural explanations seem inadequate.

The Devil stares from page 290, as he has for eight hundred years, and the book that took decades to create continues to inspire stories of a single unholy night.