7 Unsolvable Mysteries (That We Can Totally Solve)

4. The Devil’s Bible

The Devil's Bible, or the Codex Gigas, is a Middle Age manuscript containing passages from the bible and beautiful illustrations including a grotesque depiction of the devil, from which the book gets its name.

Legend has it that it was written by a monk who broke his vows and was to be walled-up as punishment. As penance, he offered to create a book to glorify the monastery, and write it all on his own (manuscripts are usually the work of many monks) in just one day. In order to achieve this feat, he made a pact with the devil and left the illustration in there in gratitude.

Remarkably, analysis of the handwriting and illustrations reveals that it is indeed the work of one man, and it is supremely uniform. It is estimated that a manuscript of this size would have taken at least 25 years for one person to write, surely an undertaking not even a monk could stomach? Even weirder, the pages bearing the image of the devil are much darker than the rest of the book, almost as though they have been touched by evil.

Pretty extraordinary. Except it's not.

We have other examples of huge Middle Age tomes being produced by one person. The Lindisfarne Gospels are thought to be the work of a monk named Eadfrith, and are considered to be one of the most exquisite works we know of. What's more, it's thought to be the product of more than 20 years' work. That's what happens when you mix devotion, isolation and no Netflix subscription - no devil required.

And the darkened "devil pages"? The manuscript is written on vellum, which reacts with the air and darkens. This indicates that, over the years, the book has understandably been displayed with these pages open the most.