{"it":{"id":"W17A03","kind":"artifact","sub":"Authenticated","name":"Codex Gigas (Devil's Bible)","place":"National Library of Sweden, Stockholm","mat":"vellum (donkey or calf skin) on wooden boards with leather","dims":"92 x 50 x 22 cm; 74.8 kg; 310 leaves","loc":"National Library of Sweden, Stockholm","acc":"n/a","find":"Benedictine monastery of Podlazice, Bohemia; Swedish war spoils 1648","flag":"genuine medieval","src":[192,499],"tags":[],"sum":"The Codex Gigas is the largest medieval manuscript, needing two people to lift, with a full-page Devil.","why":"A 13th-century Bohemian giant book in Stockholm whose full-page Devil gave rise to a legend recorded by 1635.","nfacts":4,"nsrc":2,"yt":"Estimate scribal hours from its page count.","rel":["W11A17"],"hook":"The Codex Gigas has 309 parchment leaves and a full-page Devil. By 1635 people said the Devil helped write it."},"S":{"192":["Wikipedia Codex Gigas","https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Codex_Gigas&oldid=1378399481"],"499":["Wikipedia: Codex Gigas","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Gigas"]},"rec":{"id":"W17A03","alias":["W17T02"],"ms":[{"a":"dimensions","v":"92 x 50 x 22","u":"cm","unc":"","by":"National Library of Sweden (via wiki)","yr":"","m":"library description","b":"S","t":"MEASUREMENT","id":"W17M011","s":["W17S02"],"c":"Wikipedia Codex Gigas","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Codex_Gigas&oldid=1378399481"},{"a":"mass","v":"74.8","u":"kg","unc":"","by":"via wiki","yr":"","m":"library description","b":"S","t":"MEASUREMENT","id":"W17M012","s":["W17S02"],"c":"Wikipedia Codex Gigas","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Codex_Gigas&oldid=1378399481"},{"a":"leaves","v":"310 (originally 320)","u":"leaves","unc":"","by":"via wiki","yr":"","m":"count","b":"S","t":"MEASUREMENT","id":"W17M013","s":["W17S02"],"c":"Wikipedia Codex Gigas","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Codex_Gigas&oldid=1378399481"},{"a":"vellum area","v":"142.6","u":"m2","unc":"","by":"via wiki","yr":"","m":"computed","b":"S","t":"MEASUREMENT","id":"W17M014","s":["W17S02"],"c":"Wikipedia Codex Gigas","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Codex_Gigas&oldid=1378399481"}],"lab":[{"k":"Materials","v":"vellum (donkey or calf skin); wooden boards covered in leather; metal fittings","b":"S","s":["W17S02"],"url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Codex_Gigas&oldid=1378399481"}],"eng":[],"ori":[],"gaps":[{"a":"museum_accession","r":"not in staged/legacy artifact record (free sources)"}],"dat":[],"aa":[{"id":"AA258","a":"Written in one night with the Devil","who":"legend","main":"Single scribe, 20+ years, 1204-1230","ms":"W17S02","st":"supported-explained","n":"","nl":"1"}],"ac":[],"me":[],"ci":[],"cq":[],"sd":[],"art":{"claimed_anomaly":"Written in one night with the Devil's help","mainstream_reading":"Produced 1204-1230, apparently by a single scribe (Herman the Recluse) over 20+ years","provenance_flag":"genuine medieval","current_location":"National Library of Sweden, Stockholm","find_circumstances":"Benedictine monastery of Podlazice, Bohemia; Swedish war spoils 1648","claimant":"legend","status":"supported-explained","dimensions":"92 x 50 x 22 cm; 74.8 kg; 310 leaves","material":"vellum (donkey or calf skin) on wooden boards with leather","date":"","culture":"","museum_accession":"n/a","b":"S","s":["W17S02"]},"sub":[],"src":[{"id":"W17S02","t":"Wikipedia Codex Gigas","u":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Codex_Gigas&oldid=1378399481"},{"id":null,"t":"Wikipedia: Codex Gigas","u":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Gigas"},{"id":"VW17A03-3","t":"manuscripta.se: manuscript 100500","u":"https://www.manuscripta.se/ms/100500"}],"sum":"The Codex Gigas, or \"Devil's Bible\", is a giant Latin manuscript now in the National Library of Sweden in Stockholm. The library's catalogue describes it as made in Bohemia between 1204 and 1230, on 309 parchment leaves, each 890 by 490 mm.\n\nIt holds far more than a Bible. After the Old Testament come Josephus's two histories of the Jews, Isidore of Seville's Etymologies, medical works by Constantine the African, the New Testament, a confession of sins, Cosmas of Prague's Chronicle of the Bohemians, and a calendar with a list of the dead. A note in the book links it to the monastery of Podlažice.\n\nWhat is hard to explain is the pair of full-page paintings at its centre: the Heavenly City of Jerusalem, and facing it a single huge Devil. Right after the Devil come conjurations, and several pages that were ruled in colour but never written on.\n\nThe legend grew early. An inventory of the Prague treasury of the emperor Rudolph II, which received the book in 1594, records in 1635 that a monk in prison at Broumov was said to have written it, with the Devil bringing him the parchment. Another inventory, of 1648, calls it the book the Devil brought to a walled-up monk. Read side by side, the two paintings set heaven against hell. In 1649 the codex reached the Swedish royal library as war booty.\n\nWhy put the Devil, full page, at the heart of a book of scripture and learning?","qs":["The legend says the Devil helped a walled-up monk. Why would a story like that attach itself to a book?","The Devil faces the Heavenly City across two pages. Was the pairing a lesson about choice?","The book was taken to Sweden as war booty in 1649. How has war shaped which treasures survive, and where?"],"gal":[{"src":"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/Alphabets_Codex_Gigas.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alphabets_Codex_Gigas.jpg","title":"Alphabets Codex Gigas.jpg","lic":"Public domain","licurl":"","by":"Benedictine monastery of Podlažice","cap":"Page on alphabets from the Codex Gigas"},{"src":"https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1a/CodexGigas_218_Judith.jpg/1280px-CodexGigas_218_Judith.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CodexGigas_218_Judith.jpg","title":"CodexGigas 218 Judith.jpg","lic":"Public domain","licurl":"","by":"Benedictine monastery of Podlažice","cap":"The Codex Gigas (English: Giant Book) is the largest extant medieval manuscript in the world. 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