In a glass box in the National Library of Sweden, rests the largest book of the world and also one of the most mysterious one- The Codex Gigas. The book is 36 inches tall, 20 inches wide, and 8.7 inches thick. At first, the book used to have 320 pages but later on the last 10 pages were cut out leaving the book with only 310 pages. But the physical attributes of the book is not the main point of focus here, the mysteries surrounding it surely are.
The Latin Codex Gigas directly translates into The Giant Book and is also referred as The Devil’s Bible. Now turn off the lights as I take you to the world years and years ago. The story flows somewhat like this.
It was a rough day for Herman the Recluse, he has received a death sentence which he knew was coming because he broke the monastery vows that he took the full responsibility of. While he was seating and wondering how to save his life, he came up with a bright idea. Legends say that he was one of the most knowledgeable monks of that era and used to know things that general people never knew. He went up to the authorities begging his life in return for a book full of everything he knows. The authorities accepted the deal but put a very strict condition of completing the book in one night.
Completing such a monumental manuscript within a few hours was a condition he knew he will fail. And since he has sinned by breaking the vows of the monastery, he understood that asking help from God will not result in anything fruitful. So to complete the task he turned his mind towards the devil and requested his help. The devil appeared in front of him and offered to help in return for his deceased soul. To which Herman gave his approval. In one night a book that could have easily taken 5 years to complete was written down by hand and in one of the inner pages had a very lifelike picture of the devil kneeling in front as if telling someone something.
Now, in those ages till the recent times, there have been various pictures of the devil, including the handsome form that Tom Ellis plays in the Netflix series Lucifer. To be honest, if Tom Ellis was actually the devil, even I wouldn’t have a problem taking dictations from him. But coming back to the story, this one particular picture of the devil in the Codex Gigas never had any other remakes, making people believe that maybe that is actually the devil. In this picture, the devil is wearing a royal cloth indicating that he is the prince of darkness.
But again this story though told by many doesn’t have a very prominent backup. But when scientists checked the writing and carbon prints of the pages it was definite that the book was indeed completed by one person and in one night. The aura of the book is certain to take you to those days when god was feared than loved and the sinners were punished in the most inhuman ways. The medieval times were dark and the darkness still lingers.
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