It’s the Middle Ages and a man is sitting
in a cell awaiting one of the worst punishments the world has to offer – even for those
brutal times. He has been sentenced to be “walled-up”
alive for the crime of breaking his monastic vows. He brokers a deal with those who want him
dead. “If I can write a book in just one night…a
book that contains all human knowledge and outlines the majesty of our great God and
our great monastery, can I forgo this terrible punishment?” His captors agree, knowing full well that
such a task is impossible. But the monk gets to work, scribbling frantically
from morning until evening. As the clock strikes midnight he knows he
cannot finish this book of knowledge, and so he prays…not to his God, but to the fallen
angel Lucifer. “Help me finish this book,” cries the
monk, “and you can take my soul.” Lucifer, not one to pass up such a deal, agrees,
and he finishes the behemoth of a book for the man. As a note of gratitude, the monk adds an illustration
to the pages of the book, which is a sketch of the devil himself. That’s the legend anyway…we’ll get around
to seeing just how true that could be. Let’s go back to the year 1648. It’s the last year of what’s called the
“Thirty Years War”, a war that involved many European states and would claim millions
of lives. What was it over? Well, religion for one, and of course power. In July that year, the Swedish army had overcome
the army defending the city of Prague, a city located in modern day Czech Republic. What they found in a monastery there was something
no man had ever seen before. They discovered a book, an old and spectacular
book, something so big that it could hardly be picked up. It contained the full Latin bible. It contained tales from ancient history and
it also contained a vast knowledge of medicine. Was this the book that the monk had written
when in cahoots with the devil? One thing for sure is that it was, and still
is, the largest illustrated medieval manuscript ever created…and yes, inside it was a drawing
of the devil. The book became known as the “Codex Gigas.” In Latin, that simply translates to “Giant
Book.” A giant it is, too. The 320 pages are made from Vellum, which
is a material made from animal hide that was often used for writing on. Believe it or not, it took 160 donkeys to
get enough hide to create the book. The total page count is unknown, as many pages
went missing throughout history and today only 310 remain- still, quite the feat for
a medieval scribe… especially if forced to write this book in just one night! The Devil’s Bible is 36 inches (91 cm) tall,
20 inches (50.8 cm) wide, and 8.7 inches (22 cm) thick. It weighs about the same as many of you folks
watching this show, weighing in at 165 pounds (74kg). Suffice to say, when the Swedes saw this thing
they were blown away. They’d seen nothing like it. No one had, in any country. It was a work of brilliance, and as we said,
it didn’t just contain the full Christian bible, but had chapters on history and medicine. There were even pages containing information
on things such as exorcisms and how to repent for one’s sins. But who wrote it? That is the question that has always confounded
historians. You see, while it’s written in Latin, it
also contains the Hebrew, Greek, and Slavic alphabets. So, maybe a lot of people wrote that thing,
thought historians, but on further analysis over the years, most historians agree that
the handwriting, the mood, and the illustrations, must have come from just one person. Taking into account the work that went into
such a book, that one author would have been writing and sketching day-in, day-out, for
at least twenty years, maybe even 30 years. That, or some chastised monk made a deal with
the devil one night while awaiting his execution. But who was this guy? Well, as the legend goes, he was named “Herman
the Recluse”, and was a 13th century monk working in Bohemia, part of today’s Czech
Republic. What do we know about Herman? Given his epithet, we know he probably didn’t
get out much. In Latin his name was “Hermannus Heremitus”,
which you can guess relates to the word “hermit.” So, did Herman make a pact with the devil
and get the book finished in just one night or did he live up to his name and stay home
for 20 or 30 years until the book was completed? The answer is he most likely spent his entire
life writing the manuscript, given that people didn’t tend to live too long back then. But why did Herman give the Prince of Darkness
a page all to himself? It’s not exactly clear, but if you open
the book with the devil exposed, the opposite page is an illustration of a Heavenly City. Perhaps Herman was making a point…live a
life of sin and this is the fella you’ll meet after you die…or live a sinless life
and you’ll get a ticket to heaven. In the pages after the picture of the devil,
the reclusive monk gives detailed instructions of how to exorcise the prince of darkness
from either people or inanimate objects. There are also some spells that were supposed
to heal the sick and two spells related to conjuring the devil. The book is obviously ant-devil, so you might
ask, why is there a conjuring spell? Well, historians now believe that the conjuring
spells were to protect people from the devil, not get into bed with him. As for the missing pages, some scholars believe
they were intentionally removed. Why, you might ask? Well, that’s where the conspiracy theories
come in. Maybe the lost pages contained something that
mortals like you were never meant to see…or maybe they were just stolen…or perhaps in
time the information on those pages was deemed offensive. We know that in 1697 the book was damaged. It was sitting in the Stockholm Castle in
Sweden when the building caught on fire. As the story goes, according to a vicar named
Johann Erichsons who wrote about the fire some 50 years later, the book was thrown from
the building and it landed on someone. Imagine that, a book weighing the same as
an adult male falling on someone’s head. We guess the victim was severely injured. Codex Gigas was still intact at the end of
the ordeal, although it’s said some pages went missing. In view of that accident, some people have
said the Devil’s Bible is cursed and will bring misfortune on anyone that goes near
it. That’s probably not true, since it’s been
sitting in the National Library of Sweden in Stockholm for a long time and it hasn’t
seemed to have cursed the place yet. On top of that, thousands upon thousands of
people have seen it in that museum and we expect they didn’t get cursed, either. Now you should go and watch this show, “The
Origin Of Evil: The Devil.” Or instead, watch this….
