Djävulsbibeln
( Codex Gigas )
The Codex Gigas ("Giant Book"; Czech: Obří kniha) is the largest extant medieval illuminated manuscript in the world, at a length of 92 cm (36 in). Very large illuminated bibles were typical of Romanesque monastic book production, 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 Etym...Read more
The Codex Gigas ("Giant Book"; Czech: Obří kniha) is the largest extant medieval illuminated manuscript in the world, at a length of 92 cm (36 in). Very large illuminated bibles were typical of Romanesque monastic book production, 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), and medical works: an early version of the Ars medicinae compilation of treatises, and two books by Constantine the African.
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.
Opening of the Gospel of MatthewAccording 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.[1] 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.[2] 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.
At the end of the Thirty Years' War in 1648, the entire collection was taken as war booty by the Swedish army. From 1649, the manuscript has been kept in the Swedish Royal Library in Stockholm.[3]
On 7 May 1697, a fire at the Tre Kronor royal castle in Stockholm destroyed much of the Royal Library. The Codex Gigas was thrown out a window; according to the vicar Johann Erichsons, it landed on and injured a bystander.[4]
A National Geographic documentary included interviews with manuscript experts who argued that certain evidence (handwriting analysis and a credit to Hermann Inclusus – "Herman the Recluse") indicates the manuscript was the work of a single scribe.[5]
![[node:title]](/sites/default/files/styles/640x320/public/default_images/default_0.JPG?itok=nAKl_DR1)
Add new comment