Return of Devil's Bible to Prague draws crowds

jdkf dkPRAGUE, Czech Republic: Codex Gigas, also known as the Devil's Bible — a medieval manuscript said to have been written 800 years ago with the devil's help — has returned to Prague after an absence of 359 years.

The priceless piece, considered the biggest medieval book, was taken from the Prague Castle by Swedish troops at the end of the Thirty Years' War in 1648. It is in Prague on loan from Sweden's Royal Library in Stockholm. It was put on display under high security at the Czech National Library.

Its return to Prague for Sept 20 - Jan 6 exhibition was made possible after years of negotiations between Czech and Swedish diplomats, National Library spokeswoman Katerina Novakova said.

"We expected big interest from the public," Novakova said. "Now, we are 100 percent full."

Only 60 people per hour can enter an air-conditioned room in the library's medieval complex in downtown Prague for a 10-minutes look at the manuscript, which is inside a specially designed, unbreakable case, she said.

According to myth, a Benedictine monk promised to write the book overnight to atone for his sins. When he realized the task was impossible, he asked the devil for help. The page with the illustration of the devil the one visitors see.

The manuscript was likely written by one monk from the Benedictine monastery in Podlazice located 65 miles east of Prague sometime at the beginning of the 13th century, said Zdenek Uhlir, a specialist on medieval manuscripts at the National Library.

It contains "a sum of the Benedictine order's knowledge" of the time, including the Old and New Testament, "The War of the Jews" by the first-century historian Josephus Flavius, a list of saints, or a guideline how to determine the date of Easter, Uhlir said.

OK...

So in the midst of a horrible war between Protestants and Catholics, the Protestants steal a book which contains a remarkable compendium of the documents which are the basis of Bohemian civilization, which naturally, the Protestants ascribe to evil.

... and it is by this slandrous nickname that the press refers to it by, so that the descendants of the Bohemians, excited that it is once again in their country, come off as devil-worshippers.

Hey, why not refer to the Vatican as the “Throne of Babylon” while your at it, MSM?

(please note that the devil is shown at the bottom of a deep pit, below nine levels of Hell.)

>> Ummmm, Since it was made in the 9th Century I suspect the name was attributed to the book long before Luther or even Bohemian Jan Hus were around. <<

It’s not the name, though... that’s what’s scandalous about the Reuters article. It’s not even its nickname (which is Codex Gigas.) In fact, it’s quite possible that the legend of how it became known as “the Devil’s bible” is centuries more recent than the actual nickname. The Swedish government’s website makes no reference to that legend: “Secondly, it contains a large, full page portrait of the Devil. (This explains its alternative name.) “

(Even this is inaccurate: the illustration is full-page, but the devil is about 1/4th of the page.)

The purpose of the picture of the devil is to illustrate a guide to how to perform an exorcism.

The Swedish site does later mention the legend. It gives numerous nicknames, as translated from the language by which the nickname is known. As I thoroughly expected, the Satanic references are all Swedish (or in a similar language), while none of the innocuous nicknames are, making very clear that the legend is of Swedish origin (although, reading the actual legend, instead of the MSM’s slander, maybe my presumption of BLACK propaganda was a bit too hasty.)

“It has stirred people’s imaginations and given rise to all manner of legends. A legend concerning a monk of Podlažice walled up alive for his sins had already appeared in medieval times. He attempted to expiate his guilt by writing the world’s biggest book in a single night. Realising the task to be beyond his powers, he invoked the aid of the Devil. The Devil aided him, had his portrait painted in the book and demanded the monk’s soul as payment. The monk was rescued but lost his peace of mind, until finally he turned to the Holy Virgin, beseeching her to save him. She agreed to help but the penitent died on the very point of being absolved from his pact with the Devil.

This legend is a variant of the very popular medieval tale of Theophilus the Penitent, which has the same ingredients as the legend of the Devil’s Bible: a pact with the Devil to achieve the impossible, remorse afterwards, the Virgin’s compassion and the rapid death of the penitent. The same elements recur in the story of Faust, known since the sixteenth century.”

And, incidentally, it was not made in the 9th century, but in the 13th; it includes records through to 1229.

>> Ummmm, Since it was made in the 9th Century I suspect the name was attributed to the book long before Luther or even Bohemian Jan Hus were around. <<

Yes, but who says that the legend was around from its creation?

>> The 30 Years War had everybody fighting everybody—with shifting alliances, across religions, and was not primarily a religious war. So no need to make this a Prot v. Cath thing. <<

The plain absurdity of the allegation makes clear that the name is propagandistic. And while the 30-years war was not strictly religious in nature (as I have argued in situations where Christianity is falsely accused of causing so many wars), Sweden was of a sect (Lutheranism) which was at the time actively teaching that the predominant sect in Bohemia (still Catholicism) was demonic. But I did mean to present this as a natural explanation, rather than the presumption that the book was, indeed, diabolical. Far from diabolic, it was foundational to bohemian civilization, so calling it diabolical, as I stated, seems obviously propagandistic, even if I can only speculate at the motive of the propaganda.

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