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Codex Gigas

c. 1230

Held by Stockholm Public Library, A 148read here

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The Codex Gigas, or Devil's Bible, is the largest known medieval manuscript: 310 leaves, 92 cm tall and about 75 kg. It holds the Latin Bible, the works of Josephus, Isidore's Etymologiae, medical texts and a chronicle of Bohemia. Its famous full-page Devil faces a picture of the Kingdom of Heaven. Legend says one monk wrote it in a single night with help from the Devil.

Where it happens

  1. Podlazice monastery, Chrast Where the manuscript was made.1
  2. Prague Taken as war booty by Sweden in 1648.1
  3. Stockholm Home of the book since 1649.12

Through time

  1. 1204Earliest date for the making of the manuscript, to 1230.1
  2. 1648Swedish troops take the codex from Prague.1
  3. 1649The codex reaches Stockholm.1
  4. 1697The palace fire; the book is thrown from a window.1

Who is in it, and behind it

Cosmas of Prague chronicler

His Chronica Boemorum starts on f. 294.1

Isidore of Seville encyclopedist

His Etymologiae begins at f. 201.1

Flavius Josephus historian

His works open at f. 118v.1

What it is about

The Devil's Bible

A full-page Devil, about 50 cm tall, gives the book its nickname.1

A library in one volume

The Bible, history, encyclopedia and medicine share one binding.1

A legend of one night

The tale says a single monk wrote it in a night with the Devil's help.1

Pages worth stopping at

  1. left cover, outsideFolio 1v, with Hebrew alphabets.12
  2. f. 118rFolio 118v, the first page of Josephus, with pictures of Heaven and Earth.12
  3. f. 200vFolio 201r, where Isidore's Etymologiae begins.12
  4. f. 289rFolio 289v, the Kingdom of Heaven, opposite the Devil.12
  5. f. 289vFolio 290r, the full-page Devil.12
  6. f. 293vFolio 294r, the start of Cosmas's Chronica Boemorum.12
  7. f. 304vFolio 305r, the brothers list and calendar.12

How it came to be here

The book was made between 1204 and 1230 at the Podlazice monastery at Chrast in Bohemia. Swedish troops took it in 1648 when they seized Prague, and it has been in Stockholm since 1649. It was thrown from a window during the palace fire of 1697 and survived. Today it belongs to the National Library of Sweden as A 148.

Sources

  1. Wikipedia: Codex Gigas
  2. National Library of Sweden IIIF manifest for Codex Gigas

Images: National Library of Sweden (Photographer: Per B. Adolphson). CC BY 4.0.

Holder's record ยท IIIF manifest