According to medieval legend, a monk at Podlažice sentenced to death by immurement—live burial in a walled tomb—promised to create the world’s largest book in a single night. Unable to finish it, he received the Devil’s help during the night and included the Devil’s portrait in acknowledgment. Other variations mention that the monk sold his soul for his life and the manuscript, that the abbot of the monastery challenged him to write it, or that the manuscript was meant to glorify the monastery. The story echoes similar ones of deals with the Devil, such as that of Faust. The Codex Gigas’s actual origin and author are unknown, but scholars believe a single scribe produced it in Bohemia between 1204 and 1230.
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