Did you know that the Codex Gigas, the largest extant medieval illuminated manuscript in the world, is also known as the Devil's Bible (not to be confused with The Satanic Bible) due to its highly unusual full-page portrait of Satan, and the legend surrounding the book's creation?

The Codex Gigas, the largest extant medieval illuminated manuscript in the world at a length of 92 cm (36 in), is a Romanesque Latin Bible, with other texts, some secular, added in the second half of the book. Although very large illuminated bibles were typical of Romanesque monastic book production, however, the page-size of the Codex Gigas is exceptional. 

The manuscript is also known as the Devil's Bible due to its highly unusual full-page portrait of Satan, and the legend surrounding the book's creation. Apart from the famous page with an image of the Devil, the book is not very heavily illustrated with figurative miniatures, compared to other grand contemporary bibles.

According to legend, the codex was created in the early 13th century in the Benedictine monastery of Podlažice in Bohemia, now a region in the modern-day Czech Republic, by Herman the Recluse. One version of a legend that was already recorded in the Middle Ages, has it that the scribe was a monk who broke his monastic vows and was sentenced to be walled up alive. In order to avoid this harsh penalty he promised to create in one night a book to glorify the monastery forever, including all human knowledge. Near midnight, he became sure that he could not complete this task alone so he made a special prayer, not addressed to God but to the fallen angel Lucifer, asking him to help him finish the book in exchange for his soul. The devil completed the manuscript and the monk added the devil's picture out of gratitude for his aid.

In tests to recreate the work, it is estimated that reproducing only the calligraphy, without the illustrations or embellishments, would have taken 20 years of non-stop writing.

The monastery where the Codex Gigas was kept got destroyed in the 15th century during the Hussite Revolution, but is now marked by a maquette in the town museum of Chrast. Records in the codex end in the year 1222. Shortly after it was written, it was pawned by the Benedictines to the Cistercian monks of the Sedlec Monastery, where it remained for 70 years. 

The Benedictine monastery in Břevnov reclaimed the bible around the end of the 13th Century. From 1477 it was in the library of a monastery in Broumov, until in 1594 when it was taken to Prague into the collection of 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, the manuscript has been kept in the Swedish Royal Library in Stockholm, where it is on display for the general public. On 7 May 1697, a fire at the Tre Kronor royal castle in Stockholm destroyed much of the Royal Library. The Codex Gigas was spared destruction by being thrown out of a window; according to the vicar Johann Erichsons, it landed on and injured a bystander.

The manuscript 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 (Chronica Boemorum), and medical works: an early version of the Ars medicinae compilation of treatises, and two books by Constantine the African.

The first page has two Hebrew alphabets. There are also added slips with Early Cyrillic and Glagolitic alphabets (Folio 1). About half of the codex (f. 1–118) consists of the entire Latin Bible in the Vulgate version, except for the books of Acts and Revelation, which are from a pre-Vulgate version. They are in the order: Genesis to Ruth; Isaiah; Jeremiah; Baruch; Lamentations; Daniel; Hosea to Malachi; Job; Samuel and Kings; Psalms to Song of Solomon; Wisdom of Solomon; Wisdom of Jesus; Chronicles; Esdras; Tobit; Judith; Esther; and Maccabees.

The two works of Josephus then continue the history of the Jews (f. 118–178). The first page of Josephus, which recounts the Genesis creation story, is illustrated in the margin with pictures of Heaven and Earth (f. 118v). These works are followed by Isidore's Etymologiae (f. 201–239), and the medical works (f. 240–252). Following a blank page, the New Testament commences with Matthew to Acts, James to Revelation, and Romans to Hebrews (f. 253–286). This is followed by some pages with common prayers, and a page of "Three adjurations and two charms", some of them known from Jewish sources (f. 286–291). The full-page images of the Heavenly City and the Devil are on f. 289–90 of this section. Then comes Cosmas of Prague's Chronica Boemorum (f. 294–304). A list of brothers in the Podlažice monastery, and a calendar with a necrology, magic formulae, the start of the introits for feasts, and other local records round out the codex (f. 305–312).

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 the work of a single scribe. 

Source: Wikipedia 

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