The Codex Gigas is a medieval manuscript written by a monk who had broken his oath. Faced with the threat of being walled up alive in the very walls of the monastery, he promised that he would write a book containing all of mankind's knowledge in just one night.
And so, almost miraculously, the book called the Codex Gigas, written in a single night, came to be. Today the manuscript is kept at the National Library of Sweden in Stockholm.
The Codex Gigas, or the Devil's Bible, is a book that according to its author contains all of mankind's knowledge. It was written in the 13th century in a Czech monastery.
According to the legend, the monk was to write the book in just one night to avoid his death sentence. As midnight came ever closer, he realized that this was an impossible task.
To complete the work and save his life, the monk made a deal with the Devil and managed to finish the book in a single night as he had promised the monastic brotherhood.
As a sign of gratitude toward the Devil, the monk drew an image of him in one of the book's pages, earning it the name the "Devil's Bible".
Despite this legend, the Codex Gigas was not destroyed by the Inquisition but was even used by a number of philosophers. Because of its size, the book is considered a miracle even in Christian exhibits.
The Codex Gigas is the largest medieval manuscript to have survived to the present day. The pages of the book are 36 1/4″ (92 cm) long, 19 3/4″ (50 cm) wide and the entire book is 8 3/4″ (22 cm) thick.
It is made from the vellum of 160 animals, weighing a total of almost 165 lb (75 kg). It takes at least 2 people to lift the book.
The manuscript is written entirely in Latin. The handwriting is absolutely the same throughout the whole book, lending weight to the story that the codex was written in a single night.
The Codex Gigas contains several biblical theses, physiology lessons, history and etymology, several beliefs, as well as different rituals for conducting an exorcism.
The book contained 320 pages initially but 11 of them are missing, for reasons still unknown.
