Video: Secrets of the "Bible of the Devil": How a strange drawing appeared in the book of Benedictines
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Among all medieval books, the Codex Gigas stands out. There are many unique things in it: incredibly huge size, a strange story of creation, and, most unusual, - a detailed image of the unclean, because of which this book is usually called the "Bible of the Devil". How the strange illustration got into the collection of sacred texts is still not known for sure, but because of it, the book was used in later times for occult purposes.
The parchment illustrated manuscript collection of the early 13th century, apparently created in a Benedictine monastery in the Czech city of Podlažice, is today one of the largest books in the world. The format of the sheets is 89/49 cm, the thickness of the book is 22 cm, and the weight is 75 kg. It contains rather heterogeneous information: the full text of the Bible, the works of Joseph Flavius, "Etymology" by Isidore of Seville, "The Czech Chronicle" by Kozma Prazhsky and other texts in Latin. Researchers believe that the gigantic book reflected the entire amount of knowledge that the Benedictine Order had in the Middle Ages - from sacred texts to information necessary in monastic life, including medical information.
There is a chilling legend about the creation of a unique volume. According to her, a monk named Herman was imprisoned in a cell for a serious violation of the monastic charter (in a more heartbreaking version, he should have been walled up alive in a wall). But Herman promised the Benedictine brothers that in one night he would create a tome that would glorify their monastery. Calling the devil for help, the monk did complete the manuscript on time, but the prince of darkness left a mark in it - his own portrait (and possibly a self-portrait).
Scientists who have studied the code have come to the conclusion that, without a doubt, it was indeed written by one person. The average scribe of the Middle Ages was able to copy about 100 lines of text per day, and work was carried out only in daylight, in addition, illustrations and decorations in the text (illumination) took a lot of time. It turns out that the creation of the book should have taken from 20 to 30 years, so in fact the unknown monk spent most of his life on this work.
As for the scandalous image of the unclean, which seems to have no place in such a pious book, scientists have a version on this score that explains why the book was not censored by the Inquisition. If you look at the arrangement of the texts, then the logic of the creators of the Code becomes clear. After the New Testament and a short instruction in repentance, on one spread are full-page images of the City of Heaven and the devil. Probably, in this way, the opposition of these two facets of the universe was carried out. And, by the way, after the drawing of the unclean, there are brief instructions describing the ritual of exorcism. So, perhaps, this ancient encyclopedia, which, according to scientists, should be regarded as a historiographic, and not a liturgical collection, simply contained an array of various information - about the devil and the method of his exorcism, including.
However, descendants began to attach a slightly different meaning to the book. Created around 1230, the codex was kept for several hundred years in various monasteries, but then, in the 16th century, it attracted the attention of mystics from the circle of Paracelsus. In 1594, Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II learned of an amazing manuscript. The monarch was fond of the occult, so he moved the tome to his Prague castle. It was at this time that rumors spread about her devilish origins. Then, after a 30-year war, the tome went to the Swedes as a trophy of war, and since then it has been kept in the Royal Swedish Library in Stockholm.
Modern mystics still love to tell fables about the unique monument of the Middle Ages. This looks all the more reliable since there are indeed several "dark spots" in the book. So, for example, pages were cut out of it, and the text on others for some reason was completely painted over with ink. The scribe's handwriting is also surprising - the book is written surprisingly beautifully and evenly, so that the letters look like printed ones, but the font itself is not very typical for the 13th century. Even the very fact of creating such a global work within the walls of a small and rather poor Czech monastery is surprising. According to calculations, the skin of 160 donkeys (or calves) was required for the manufacture of parchment alone. It is believed that only large monasteries were able to do such work.
Today, the unique manuscript is still kept in Sweden, but in 2007 she traveled for some time to the "historical homeland" for the exposition. The book has been completely digitized and an exact copy has been created, so that everyone can try themselves in the role of historians-occultists and try to unravel its secrets. The amazing manuscript, by the way, has become a popular tourist attraction, sometimes it is used in mystical novels and detective films.
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