In July 1648, Swedish soldiers looting Prague Castle discovered something in the Holy Roman Emperor’s personal collection that required multiple men to carry. It was a book. Three feet tall, nine inches thick, 165 pounds, made from the skins of approximately 160 animals. And inside, on page 290, was a full-page portrait of the Devil — the largest known medieval image of Satan ever found.
This is the story of the Codex Gigas. The Giant Book. The Devil’s Bible.
WHAT WE COVER IN THIS EPISODE:
The physical reality of the manuscript — the forensic confirmation that a single human being wrote every word of its 600 pages, and the inexplicable fact that the handwriting shows no sign of aging, illness, or change across what researchers estimate was 20 to 30 years of work.
The full contents — the complete Latin Bible, the works of Flavius Josephus, Isidore of Seville’s medieval encyclopedia, a 12th-century Bohemian chronicle, medical treatises, and — buried among it all — exorcism formulas and magic spells.
The origin legend of Herman the Recluse — sentenced to be walled up alive, his deal with the Devil, and what the forensic evidence actually says about it.
The Devil portrait on page 290 — crouching, green-headed, wearing an ermine loincloth, sandwiched between a text on penitence and a section on banishing evil spirits. The theological implications. The questions nobody has answered.
The 400-year journey — pawned as collateral by a broke monastery, stolen by the Holy Roman Emperor, looted as war booty by Sweden, nearly destroyed in a palace fire in 1697, and the 12 pages that went missing that night and have never been found.
The ghost stories — the library guard who watched the Codex float through the air leading other books in a paranormal procession, and was committed to the madhouse. August Strindberg, sneaking into the library at night to read from the Devil’s Bible by matchlight, hoping to contact the underworld.
The Codex Gigas is real. It sits in Stockholm today, in a darkened room, behind glass. You can read every surviving page online at the National Library of Sweden’s website. The 12 missing pages are not there.
WRITING UPDATES
The Heart of the Wasteland is almost done. It’s at 95%, and will be finished by this Sunday, March 22nd. Beta readers can expect a completed draft two by Monday.
The Bleeding Edge will be released the same day, and this month, I’m putting it on sale for $3.00. If you’re interested, make sure you check it out. It will have The Heart of the Wasteland and Wyrm Rider this month, so it’s well worth your time.
FREE BOOKS
If you’re interested in free books, head over to dwhawkins.com/promos for a look at all the book promotions I’m taking part in. Also, this month I’ll be launching a giveaway for signed copies of The Seven Signs novels, so keep your eyes peeled!
That’s all for this week, folks. Much love, and I’ll talk to you soon.