Also referred to as the Codex Gigas, the Devil’s Bible is a massive medieval tome, written in the 13th century by a monk who was said to have made a deal with the Devil in order to finish it. According to legend, the monk had been sentenced to be walled-up alive as punishment for breaking his vows. He promised the monastery that if they let him live, he would write a book that would contain all human knowledge – in a single day. To fulfill this promise, the monk sold his soul to Lucifer.
The real basis for this legend is likely the fact that even though the manuscript is extremely long, it appears to have been written by just one person over a relatively short period of time.
Created using more than 160 animal skins, and requiring two people to even lift it, the Codex Gigas contains the complete Latin translation of the Bible, as well as multiple other texts, including works by Hippocrates and Cosmas of Prague – not to mention medical formulas, texts on exorcisms, and a large depiction of the Devil himself.
Twelve pages of the original manuscript are missing, and what they might have contained remains a mystery – some rumors say those pages contain secret Satanic texts, perhaps even a method for conjuring the Devil himself.
