Everything about Codex Gigas totally explained
The
Codex Gigas is the largest extant medieval
manuscript in the world. It was created in the early
13th century in the
Benedictine monastery of Podlažice in
Bohemia, and is now preserved at the
National Library of Sweden in
Stockholm, where two librarians are needed to lift it. It is also known as the
Devil's Bible due to a large illustration of the devil on the inside.
Appearance
The codex is contained in a wooden folder, covered with leather and ornamented with metal. At 92 cm
(36.2in.) tall, 50 cm
(19.7in.) wide and 22 cm
(8.6in.) thick it's the largest known medieval manuscript. It initially contained 320
vellum sheets, though eight of these were subsequently removed. It is unknown who removed the pages or for what purpose but it seems likely that they contained the monastic rules of the Benedictines. The codex weighs nearly 75 kg
(165 lbs.), the vellum used being calf skin (or donkey say some sources) from 160 animals.
History
The codex was created in the Benedictine monastery of Podlažice near
Chrudim, which was destroyed during the 15th century. Records in the codex end in the year
1229. The codex was later pledged to the
Cistercians Sedlec monastery and then bought by the Benedictine
monastery in Břevnov. From
1477-
1593 it was kept in the library of a monastery in
Broumov until it was taken to
Prague in
1594 to form a part of the collections of
Rudolf II.
Swedish plunder
At the end of the
Thirty Years' War in the year
1648, the entire collection was taken by the
Swedish army as plunder. From
1649 to
2007 the manuscript was kept in the
Swedish Royal Library in
Stockholm. The site of its creation is marked by a maquette in the town museum of
Chrast.
Return to Prague
On
September 24 2007, after 359 years, Codex Gigas returned to
Prague on loan from Sweden until January 2008 (on
display previously at the
Czech National Library).
Content
The Codex includes the entire Latin
Vulgate version of the
Bible,
Isidore of Seville's encyclopedia
Etymologiae,
Josephus'
Antiquities of the Jews,
Cosmas of Prague's
Chronicle of Bohemia, various
tractates (from
history,
etymology and
physiology), a calendar with
necrologium, a list of brothers in Podlažice monastery, magic formulae and other local records. The entire document is written in
Latin.
The manuscript includes
illuminations in red, blue, yellow, green and gold. Capital letters are elaborately illuminated, frequently across the entire page. The codex has a unified look as the nature of the writing is unchanged throughout, showing no signs of age, disease or mood on the part of the scribe. This may have led to the belief that the whole book was written in a very short time (see Legend).
Page 290, otherwise empty, includes a unique picture of the devil, about 50cm tall. Several pages before this are written on a blackening vellum and have a very gloomy character, somewhat different from the rest of the codex.
Legend
According to
legend the scribe was a monk who breached his monastic code and was sentenced to be walled up alive. In order to forbear this harsh penalty he promised to create in one single night a book to glorify the monastery forever, including all human knowledge. Near midnight he became sure that he couldn't complete this task alone, so he sold his soul to the devil for help. The devil completed the manuscript and the monk added the devil's picture out of gratitude for his aid.
Despite this legend the codex wasn't forbidden by the
Inquisition and was studied by many scholars.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Codex Gigas'.
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