The Devil's Bible

By Crusader1307

 Reputed to have been produced in the 12th Century AD by a Bohemian Monk – The ''Codex Gigas'' is a masterpiece of Illuminated Manuscript. But The Codex is known by a far more sinister name – ''The Devil's Bible''. It's legend states that the Monk who produced it was in penance for His Sins, and was sealed in His Cell (Room) – during which He was to produce a Bible (no doubt for a wealthy Nobleman). This required many hours of hand-printing and illustrating in very poor lighting. Owing to the often damp conditions of a Monk's Room, the task would have dealt Him a major blow to His personal health (as it often did to Manuscript producers at the time). However, The Monk felt that His life was worth more than the sacrifice and he supposedly made a deal with Satan. He gave His immortal Soul for the ability to finish the work quickly. The story states that The Codex was finished in just one night. Not only did it contain The Old and New Testament, but The ''Bible'' contain strange Alchemy instructions and other ''Dark Arts''. It also included was Historians claim was the very first recorded illustrations of what would soon be accepted as the ''image'' of Satan.

Scholars in the 20th Century attempted to see if such a ''Book'' could be completed in a 24-hour period. It couldn't. In fact it was estimated that it would take up to 5 years to complete. Further, The Codex appears to have no erasures and done by 1 hand at ''one sitting'' – non stop. The Codex would find it's way from Owner to Owner. None had any good fortune for owning it. In fact, the simple act of just ''looking'' at the painting of The Devil, was said to cause some to ''go insane'' or commit ''unspeakable acts''. The National Library of Sweden is the current ''home'' to The Codex, and is on Public display. Rarely is the picture of Satan made available for view  - perhaps for good reason!