The Curse of the Codex Gigas AKA The Devil’s Bible
The problem is… he’s reading it upside down
In 1878 a young librarian, Augustus Streenberg, is leading a new hire through the National Library of Sweden, showing them the large collection of books.
Their last stop is at Streenberg’s favorite, a large 3-foot-in length, 160-pound book, bound in leather, wood, and metal.
Streenberg opens the book, flipping through the pages, almost entranced by the writings, when he finally looks up at the new hire, he simply asks, “Do you hear the voices too?”
Today we’re looking at the legend and subsequent curse of the codex gigas also known as the devil’s bible and in the end, you decide if the devil truly had a hand in its creation.
The Legend of the Codex Gigas
Our legend begins back in the 13th century in a Benedictine Monastery near what is today the Czech Republic. A monk named Hermannus Heremitus, later known as Herman the Recluse, is being tried for crimes against the monastery.
Under his own admission, he has broken his vows and committed many sins, including lust, gluttony, pride, and bestiality. For this, he is sentenced to death by starvation and condemned to be walled up alive until his death.
As the final brick is being placed, Herman cries out for mercy. The Abbot, or head of the monks, makes Herman a deal. Since Herman was an accomplished scribe, he offers him a chance to live but he must agree to transcribe all of the world's knowledge in one night into a book.
Herman agrees and gets to work but by midnight he realizes he won’t be able to accomplish the task and decides to pray for help. When he receives no answer from above he instead prays to the devil.
The devil appears and at the cost of Herman’s soul, he offers to finish the task. Herman agrees.
The Devil’s Bible
The following morning the Abbott is shocked at the sight, in front of Herman is the 160-pound book made of donkey and calfskin. Within it houses the entire knowledge of the world up to that point in a little over 600 pages.
Art and texts fill the pages including both the old and new testament, Flavius Josephus's Antiquities of the Jews including the historical account of the Jewish-Roman wars, Isidor of Seville's entomology which includes the bishop’s views of the earth, cosmos, religion, and the hierarchy of angels and saints.
There are also medical journals, steps for exorcisms, spells, and magical rituals including one that is said to conjure the devil. But on the 290th page is a detailed drawing requested by the devil himself, one that would give the book its nickname.
The entire page is taken up by a portrait of the devil. The large figure between two towers, arms outstretched above its head, each hand with large red talons. Its green face smiling, staring crazed and wide-eyed at the reader, two large red horns protruding from its head matching its large forked tongue.
The devil squats in the drawing as if preparing to lunge, each foot, like his hands containing large red sharp talons.
With this Herman’s life is spared, although it’s said he was tormented by the curse. His thoughts, dark and evil until he could no longer take them and prayed to the Virgin Mary. She agreed to clean him of his sins but with this act, he died and the devil claimed his price.
The Devil’s Bible or Codex Gigas, Latin for “giant book”, moved around several monasteries for the next three centuries until Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II brought it to Prague where it’s said he became infatuated with the text to a point of obsession, adding it to his collection of occult items.
Tracking the Bible
Several years after obtaining the codex, in 1612, he was removed from power as his mental instability caused many to be dissatisfied with his rule. Though the codex stayed in the collection at the end of the Thirty Years’ War in 1648 when the Swedish army took it as spoils of war.
It was then kept at the Swedish Royal Library in Stockholm but it wouldn’t be long before the curse reared its ugly head.
On May 7th, 1697 a fire broke out in the library many books were destroyed but the codex was chosen to be saved when several librarians tossed it out of a window to save it. An eye witness reportedly wrote the codex landed on someone injuring them in the fall.
But something else occurred either immediately before or after the fire. Twelve pages of the codex went missing, torn out by someone, these pages have never been recovered and no one knows what was in them. Though some have speculated it contained instructions for The Devil’s Prayer.
The Codex Gigas would stay in the National Library of Sweden on display for anyone to see but its curse still looms over it. In 1858 a librarian was accidentally locked in the room with it overnight.
The next morning he was found under a table having lost his mind. Many doctors tried to help him but in the end, he had to be institutionalized. He claimed during the night many books shot across the room, eventually floating and swirling around the codex until finally, the codex itself was levitating in the center of the room.
In 1878 before Augustus Strindberg asked a new librarian if he too heard the voices, his friend and author Eugene Fahlstedt recounts another story of Augustus’s growing obsession. Strindberg is said to have brought others to the library multiple times at midnight, taking them to the devil’s bible to read from it for several hours.
Questions of the Bible
Since then I couldn’t find any other accounts of the curse taking hold of anyone else but many have studied the bible trying to find who the real authors were. It would be near impossible for one man to have created the bible in one night and the devil’s work in the bible is just a legend… right?
Researchers determined the amount of writing contained in the codex would have taken one man 5 years of writing for six hours a day for six days a week non-stop, that’s not taking into account the drawings.
When taking into account the daily tasks of a monk in the 13th century and time for sleep and meals, including the drawings and creating the ruled lines as a guide to write, it would have taken one monk at least twenty to thirty years to complete the bible.
Like many other manuscripts transcribed by monks in the past, the codex gigas must have been created by several monks working together.
But when they studied the handwriting, it was determined the handwriting stayed the same throughout the entire book confirming only one man wrote the entire thing. The other strange aspect came when they realized if one monk wrote the bible themselves and it must have taken at least twenty years, then why didn’t their handwriting show any signs of aging? Your handwriting changes as you age but this author maintained their handwriting through decades. A near unexplainable task.
As for the drawings, though many fill the bible the one many researchers focus on, unsurprisingly, is that of the devil. It was the first time the devil had been drawn alone and taken up an entire page in a religious text.
Opposite of the devil’s portrait is a full-page drawing of what is thought to be the city of heaven. Many believe the devil’s portrait opposite the city of heaven is meant to show the juxtaposition of the afterlife. Though upon closer inspection of the city of heaven, it’s drawn as an empty, desolate place.
Many questions surround the Devil’s Bible, many that will never be answered, who and how many actually wrote the bible? What was on those missing pages? Is there truly a curse? And did the devil truly have a hand in its creation?
But how about you? Do you think a monk in the 13th century sold his soul to create the devil’s bible?
