Codex Gigas Devil's Bible Pdf Download
Thaiel Trask
The Codex Gigas ("Giant Book"; Czech: Obř kniha) is the largest extant medieval illuminated manuscript in the world, at a length of 92 cm (36 in).[1] Very large illuminated bibles were typical of Romanesque monastic book production,[2] but even among these, 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.
The manuscript was created in the early 13th century in the Benedictine monastery of Podlažice in Bohemia, now a region in the modern-day Czech Republic. 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),[3] and medical works: an early version of the Ars medicinae compilation of treatises, and two books by Constantine the African.[4]
Eventually finding its way to the imperial library of Rudolf II in Prague, the entire collection was taken as spoils of war by the Swedes in 1648 during the Thirty Years' War, and the manuscript is now preserved at the National Library of Sweden in Stockholm, where it is on display for the general public.[5]
The codex's bookbinding is wooden boards covered in leather, with ornate metal guards and fittings. At 92 cm (36 in) long, 50 cm (20 in) wide and 22 cm (8.7 in) thick, it is the largest known medieval manuscript.[6] Weighing 74.8 kg (165 lb), Codex Gigas is composed of 310 leaves of vellum claimed to be made from the skins of 160 donkeys, or perhaps calfskin, covering 142.6 m2 (1,535 sq ft) in total.[7] The manuscript includes illuminations in red, blue, yellow, green, and gold. Capital letters at the start of books of the bible and the chronicle are elaborately illuminated in several colours, sometimes taking up most of the page; 57 of these survive. The start of the Book of Genesis is missing. There are also 20 initials with the letters in blue, with vine decoration in red. There are also two images representing Heaven and Earth during the Creation, as blue and green circles with respectively the sun, moon, and some stars, and a planet all of sea with no landmasses. Within books, major capitals are much enlarged, taking up the height of about five to six lines of text, in red ink, and placed in the margins. Less important divisions, such as the start of verses, are slightly enlarged within the text and highlighted with yellowish ink around the letter forms.[8]
The codex has a unified look as the nature of the writing is unchanged throughout, showing no signs of age, disease, or mold on the part of the scribe.[9] This may have led to the belief that the whole book was written in a very short time (see Legend), but scientists are starting to investigate the theory that it took over 20 years to complete.[10][needs update]
The extraordinary length, size, and detail of the codex have given rise to the legend that it was written by one scribe in one night with help from the Devil himself.[11][12] It initially contained 320 sheets, though twelve of these were subsequently removed.[13] It is unknown who removed the pages or for what purpose.
Folio 290 recto,[14] otherwise empty, includes a picture of the Devil, about 50 cm (20 in) tall. Directly opposite the Devil is a full page depiction of the kingdom of heaven, thus juxtaposing contrasting images of Good and Evil. The Devil is shown frontally, crouching with arms uplifted in a dynamic posture. He is clothed in a white loincloth with small comma-shaped red dashes. These dashes have been interpreted as the tails of ermine furs, a common symbol of sovereignty. He has no tail, and his body, arms, and legs are of normal human proportions. His hands and feet end with only four fingers and toes each, terminating in large claws; both his claws and large horns are red.
He has a large, dark green head, and his hair forms a skull cap of dense curls. The eyes are small, with red pupils, and his red-tipped ears are large. His open mouth reveals his small white teeth, and two long red tongues protrude from the corners of his mouth. The double tongue evokes the forked tongue of a serpent, one of the forms of Satan in Christian iconography. The expression 'forked tongues' is an ancient biblical metaphor (Nordenfalk 1975, n. 15).
Several pages before this double spread are written in yellow characters on a blackened parchment and have a very gloomy character, somewhat different from the rest of the codex. The reason for the discoloration is that these vellum pages have been exposed to the light as readers over the centuries turned the pages toward the infamous illustration.
According to legend, the codex was created by Herman the Recluse in the Benedictine monastery of Podlažice near Chrudim in the Czech Republic which was 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.[15] 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.[16] From 1477 it was in the library of a monastery in Broumov, until in 1594 it was taken to Prague into the collection of Emperor Rudolf II.
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.[18]
According to one version of a legend already recorded in the Middle Ages, the scribe was a monk who broke his monastic vows and was sentenced to be walled up alive. To escape death, he promised to create, in one night, a book to glorify the monastery forever, including all human knowledge. Near midnight, he became so desperate that he prayed to Lucifer to help him finish the book in exchange for his soul. The Devil completed the manuscript, and the monk added the Devil's picture as a tribute.[1][21][22] In tests to recreate the work, it is estimated that reproducing only the calligraphy, without the illustrations or embellishments, would have taken twenty years of non-stop writing.[10]
b1e95dc632