The Truth Behind The Devil's Bible (National Geographic Documentary)
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00:00It's the largest and possibly most mysterious medieval manuscript ever found.
00:07A Bible, an encyclopedia of history, magic and medicine all rolled into one.
00:13It is absolutely mad, it is loony, there are no other manuscripts like it.
00:18And according to legend, the product of a pact with the devil.
00:23It was the devil they worried about much more than seeking God's approval.
00:28Shrouded in superstition, this infamous tome dubbed Devil's Bible.
00:34Its infernal illustrations and supernatural spells are said to have been produced by just one monk in just one night,
00:42after he sold his soul to Satan.
00:45Thought to be almost 800 years old, the Devil's Bible has been subject to high-tech scientific scrutiny.
00:53Now the results of this intriguing investigation are revealed,
00:57with shocking evidence that the diabolical tale behind the Devil's Bible is, in part, true.
01:16The Codex Gigas, Latin for Big Book.
01:20The largest medieval manuscript in existence.
01:27Once considered the eighth wonder of the world, it's almost a meter long and weighs around the same as an average adult.
01:34Inside, the Bible, ancient histories, medicinal cures and magical spells.
01:45It contains a combination of text that exists nowhere else.
01:49It is a most peculiar, strange, haunting, fascinating, large, bizarre, inexplicable object.
01:59But the book is far more.
02:04The Codex wheels an almost supernatural allure, coveted by the powerful.
02:11Stolen as a spoil of war, secreted away by a holy Roman emperor.
02:16Throughout its history, the Codex has inspired fear and an obsession to possess it.
02:29Today, the book's magnetism is as powerful as ever.
02:33Though it's kept permanently in Sweden, in 2007, for the first time in nearly 400 years,
02:39the Codex travelled back to its native Czech Republic.
02:43Thousands flocked to see it.
02:45The event made international headlines.
02:48Few books on earth can cause such a sensation.
02:53And there is no doubt, anybody who sees this book in the flesh cannot be unaware that it has a certain sort of power.
03:02And behind it all, there's a diabolical drama driven by a single sinister figure, Satan.
03:10The Codex boasts a full-page portrait of the devil.
03:14No other Bible on earth features such a sizeable image of evil incarnate.
03:19No one knows who created it, or why it's there.
03:24It is extraordinary and very, very unusual picture.
03:28It's unforgettable and it's haunting, and that may be intentional.
03:33And there's more.
03:34Unexplained, unpainted shadows engulf only the pages surrounding the satanic portrait.
03:40And the Codex is the only book that places the Old and New Testaments alongside violent, holy incantations.
03:49Spells of demonic exorcism.
03:55Though no one knows his exact age, the Codex is a book of the Bible.
04:00Though no one knows his exact age, a citation in the book reveals a likely date of completion, 1230.
04:10Since then, for eight centuries, two critical questions have haunted the Codex.
04:15Who created it, and why?
04:18The book's calligraphy is astoundingly consistent.
04:22Could a team of scribes have worked together, or is it the work of a single author?
04:26Mostly, books were made by individuals, perhaps two or three people working together.
04:31But the book is unusual. It really does appear to be the hand of a single scribe.
04:36Yet if the Codex is the work of one, it poses an even bigger problem.
04:41Time.
04:43A book of such magnitude would take decades.
04:46A lone author would age, suffer illness, diminishing eyesight, and a loss of coordination.
04:51Yet page after page, the book appears flawless, and scholars observe it has no notable mistakes or omissions.
05:02Who could have accomplished such a formidable task?
05:06Scholars believe the manuscript holds clues that could unmask its mysterious creator, or creators.
05:14But centuries ago, those who first saw the Codex believed there was only one explanation.
05:20They spun a haunting legend that endures.
05:24The Codex was written by a doomed monk, who sold his soul to the devil.
05:35The story begins way back in the year 1230.
05:38At a remote monastery in Bohemia.
05:42In a stark cell, a monk pleads for his life.
05:47He's in deadly trouble. His sin has shattered a sacred monastic rule, so offensive it's kept secret.
05:57He is a Benedictine, called the Black Monks.
06:00Their funereal robes symbolize death to the earthly world.
06:05They vow poverty, chastity, obedience, and endure harsh physical sacrifices.
06:11Flea-infested hair shirts, fasting, sleep deprivation, and self-flagellation.
06:22But the weak fall to their death.
06:25But the weak fall to temptation, greed, envy, and sexual deviance.
06:36Punishments are extreme. Solitary confinement, starvation, excommunication, or worse.
06:47Somewhere in the monastery, elders decide if the fallen monk will live or die.
06:55The news is grim. This time tomorrow, the monk will be doomed to a slow death, brick by brick.
07:03He's to be walled up, alive.
07:07The condemned man fears the torture to come.
07:12But he has a divine, or perhaps, diabolical inspiration.
07:16The monk promises the impossible. He'll inscribe a massive tome, the greatest book of his age.
07:23It will contain the Bible and all human knowledge. It will glorify his monastery forever.
07:32And to prove his penance, he'll write this colossal creation in one night.
07:38The elders scoff, but the monk is insistent. They agree to let him try.
07:44Their edict is clear. Finish the book by morning, or face sudden death.
07:52Page after page, he writes till his hand grows numb.
07:56By midnight, death looms before him. There's too much left to do.
08:00By midnight, death looms before him. There's too much left to do.
08:08In his darkest hour, he makes an unholy pact. He asks for help from the fallen archangel, Satan.
08:20The legend says the demon answers the monk's call.
08:24As the gospels were guided by the hand of God, the Codex Gigas is guided by the hand of the devil.
08:35Stockholm, Sweden. The Royal National Library. Modern day home of the Codex Gigas.
08:43Any prolonged exposure to light, heat and humidity can cause the book irreparable damage.
08:50It's normally kept covered with a custom shroud.
08:54Until now, for the first time in history, an international team of experts planned to crack the Codex Gigas.
09:03Renowned Bible expert, Christopher de Hamel. Manuscript expert, Michael Gulick.
09:09Author and researcher, Peter Stanford. And Swedish National Librarian, Anna Wolodarski, have united for one mission.
09:18By using handwriting analysis, forensic investigation, pigment and paper testing, they hope to dissect and reveal the real story behind the Devil's Bible.
09:33An expert investigation team, based at the Swedish Library, are about to be granted privileged access to the massive and mysterious medieval tomb dubbed the Devil's Bible.
09:44The library enforces strict rules with tight, on-site security. They have only a few days. Such access is rare.
09:53But to identify the Codex creator, the team must find concrete evidence from the book itself.
09:59Okay, well, let's see. What were you going to see? Oh, wow.
10:04So big, yes.
10:06Look, this really is extraordinary.
10:10Yeah, it's so odd.
10:12It's...
10:16The vast tomb, with its hand-woven, almost metre-long spine, is so heavy, a support is needed to cradle its bulk.
10:35The initial task, pigment analysis.
10:40As a paleographer, an expert in ancient writing and documents, Michael Gwillick first wants to follow the ink.
10:49Monks typically blended their own inks using specific materials and techniques. Could the ancient ink reveal a chemical signature?
10:59Daily ink blending led to normal variations in pigment formulas. But one ink identifier can be counted on, the main ingredient.
11:10Medieval inks broke down into two main types, those made of metal and those made of crushed insect nests.
11:18If the Codex was the work of one scribe, it should use just one ink type.
11:24Scanning with ultraviolet light is like having x-ray vision.
11:28Positioning the UV light over the Codex, Michael looks for a phosphorescent glow.
11:34Metal inks radiate darkly, while insect inks are much less intense.
11:39What we see in the Codex Gigas, the ink generally has a sort of a brownish colour, and it doesn't fluoresce a great deal.
11:46The evidence is clear. The Codex uses insect ink throughout.
11:52Given a monk's consistent access to the same materials, it's highly unlikely a scribe would use two fundamentally different types of ink over time.
12:02This consistent ink chemistry helps support the theory of a lone author.
12:08Yet the findings baffling. How could one scribe have completed such a colossal work?
12:13Michael Gillick cautions. The forensic analysis has just begun.
12:18It's unusual, but there's one which is.
12:21As the mystery of the Codex Gigas intensifies, the teams determine to uncover the truth.
12:27And reveal the creator of the only holy book ever attributed to the devil himself.
12:44To begin to understand the Codex Gigas, devil's bible, we must explore the world that created it.
12:53Before science, before the enlightenment, the Dark Ages raged with terrifying phenomena.
13:00Natural disasters, wars, deadly disease, superstition reigned.
13:05People fell prey to disturbing myths.
13:14Tracing the true story of the Codex brings chilling insight into one of the most volatile chapters in human history.
13:23Like others in such turbulent times, those who own the book often face disaster.
13:32It begins with a doomed monastery and a lethal epidemic.
13:38Bohemia, late 13th century.
13:44Several decades have passed since a legend told of a monk who sold his soul to write the devil's bible.
13:53Now, his massive book is famous.
13:57But the monastery that possesses it is in financial ruin.
14:00To avoid bankruptcy, the abbot agrees to sell the Codex to another monastic order.
14:06Owning such a book brings an order's status, honor and prestige.
14:12Ironically, the manuscript passes from the so-called Benedictine black monks to a white-clothed order known as the white monks.
14:23The Codex Gigas makes the journey to its new home.
14:27A monastery in the town of Sedlec, just outside Prague.
14:33The white monks put the famous Codex in a place of honor.
14:37Near a cemetery consecrated with soil from Golgotha, the traditional site of Jesus' crucifixion in Jerusalem.
14:49But the white friars don't keep their price for long.
14:52But the white friars don't keep their price for long.
14:56Tragedy strikes.
14:58The keepers of the devil's bible again fall to ruin.
15:04A powerful bishop orders the white monks to return the Codex to its original home.
15:11Soon after, the cloisters overwhelmed by a deadly epidemic.
15:15The bubonic plague.
15:18The black death lays waste to the region, killing tens of thousands.
15:25The cemetery overflows with carnage.
15:28By the end of the pandemic, more than 30,000 corpses turn the site into a catacomb.
15:39Today, the Sedlec monastery has become a macabre museum.
15:44Bone Chapel.
15:45One of the most famous mass graves in Europe, with human bone sculptures, a chandelier, even a bone chalice.
15:54A gruesome reminder of the second chapter in the history of the devil's bible.
16:02In Stockholm, the team continues the investigation into the Codex's mysterious author.
16:09A search for clues leads directly to the infamous devil's portrait.
16:14Anna Wolodarski and Michael Gulick examined the Codex's particular portrayal of Satan.
16:21Half man, half horned monster, with a lurid, forked red tongue and raised fists.
16:28Dressed in ermine, often used as a symbol of supreme power.
16:32Those who believe the frightening legend must have imagined it was this beast who took the doomed scribe's soul.
16:39I mean, sometimes you get little devil's faces, or very small devils, but never anything as enormous or as gigantic, as big as this.
16:50The sheer size of this, too, would have been enough to prompt feelings of horror.
16:57Other details make no sense.
16:59The Codex artist, or artists, gave this archdemon a cell.
17:04Satan is not unleashed in hell, but walled up inside a chamber of evil.
17:10No one had ever dared put Satan inside before, alone.
17:18Devil imagery expert Peter Stanford is working in London, helping to shed light on such diabolical details.
17:25He scrutinises the Swedish Library's digitised copy of the Codex.
17:30What's extraordinary about this image is your traditional medieval image of the devil would have the devil presiding over hell.
17:37There's none of that here. This is the devil on his own.
17:40Peter looks for more hints as to who might have created such an unusual portrait.
17:47How Satan's depicted can reveal a great deal of mystery.
17:52How Satan's depicted can reveal a great deal.
17:56A scribe's era, background, education, influences, and even psychology.
18:02People felt very much in the medieval period that life hung by a thread.
18:07And they personified that threat to their continued existence very much as the devil.
18:12So it was the devil they worried about much more than seeking God's approval.
18:15The devil, as we know him, began as the Garden of Eden's sly serpent.
18:21Yet the origin of the term Satan is surprisingly innocent.
18:25The Arabic shaytan simply means accuser.
18:30The Hebrew hasatan means adversary.
18:34In the Old Testament, Satan is a kind of lawyer, arguing man's sins to God.
18:39The New Testament brings us evil incarnate.
18:43In the fearsome final chapter, the Book of Revelation, Satan's identity is clear.
18:50He's the fallen archangel, an apocalyptic superdemon.
18:55Ingenious, seductive, and deadly.
19:01An evil trickster who condemns sinners to eternal hellfire.
19:06What Revelation sets up is the earth as the battleground.
19:10So this cosmic battle which previously had taken place in heaven is now taking place on earth.
19:17And by the Middle Ages, Satan had acquired a new look to match his sinister identity, borrowed from paganism.
19:27Christianity transformed the half-goat into a serpent.
19:32Christianity transformed the half-goat pagan fertility god, Pan, into a devil.
19:42And you get the various characteristics. You get the horns, classically there on the devil.
19:47You get the scaly skin of the animal, the half-man, half-beast, who was Pan.
19:51Becomes kind of scaly skin, a kind of bestial thing in the devil.
19:55And you get the cloven hoof that was often associated with Pan.
19:58That becomes again a kind of negative thing, a kind of animalistic thing.
20:07This is the Codex Satan, created by a monk or monks strongly influenced by their time.
20:15Yet another scholar sees evidence of something else.
20:19A strange free spirit, marching to his own diabolical drum.
20:24From Cambridge, renowned manuscript expert Christopher de Hamel is also working with the Codex team.
20:31He's convinced the peculiar details of the demonic picture add up to one thing.
20:37The author was an amateur.
20:40Though the artistic workmanship is impressive, to an expert eye, it's untrained.
20:45This man, he's not a master craftsman. He's a gifted amateur. He's an obsessive amateur.
20:51He's working on, he wants it bigger and fatter and taller and stranger and more comprehensive and more extraordinary than it's ever been done before.
21:01And to Hamel's convinced, the same clues appear in the book's calligraphy.
21:06Beautiful, painstaking.
21:08And likely self-taught.
21:11Traditionally, professional monastic scribes collaborated in a large room called a scriptorium, exchanging the latest methods and techniques.
21:21Comparing a scriptorium manuscript with the Codex, the Devil's Bible looks antiquated, amateurish, almost quirky.
21:30It's not what you would expect in a Bible of the 13th century.
21:34It's somebody who's probably taught himself to write.
21:37I would guess it's a complete amateur who is copying.
21:42These amateur indicators support a growing suspicion.
21:46The Codex was a solo project.
21:49Hamel was the first to publish a manuscript.
21:52These amateur indicators support a growing suspicion.
21:56The Codex was a solo project.
22:01To say that he's an early Gothic nerd probably is going to be the easiest explanation of it.
22:08Whoever was responsible for the portrait, did they know they'd set off a firestorm?
22:14In medieval times, painting a full-page demon could be provocative, even dangerous.
22:23There was always a suspicion about people's imagination.
22:26That if people imagined or thought, or indeed did things that were different from everybody else, that that just couldn't be them.
22:33That couldn't have any sort of pure root.
22:35It couldn't be a sort of artistic inspiration or something.
22:38It could only ever be the work of the Devil.
22:41Assuming this is the face...
22:44As the team's experts weigh in, the evidence points to one scribe.
22:49But who was he?
22:51Who chose to put this giant demon in the Codex?
22:55And what message did he, or they, intend to send?
22:59Whatever their intentions, their Devil's Bible launched an obsession.
23:05Austria, 1565.
23:09Crown Prince Rudolf II awaits a royal horoscope from a master soothsayer, Michel de Nostredame, Nostradamus.
23:21The famed French seer, apothecary, and almanac writer prepares an elaborate chart.
23:27In it, he predicts Rudolf's father's death, and the young ruler's ascent to the throne.
23:32To become Holy Roman Emperor.
23:36When Rudolf receives the horoscope at last, the predictions help launch his lifelong obsession with the occult.
23:45Rudolf covets the Codex.
23:48The monarch ingratiates himself with the Benedictine Abbey that owns the book, granting honors and favors.
23:55The strategy works.
23:56An abbot brings the Codex to Prague, presenting it to Rudolf as a gift.
24:05The king is captivated.
24:07He hires experts to translate passages, and pours over the book's strange pages, including the infamous portrait of the Devil.
24:17Rudolf keeps the Codex for himself.
24:20A great acquisition for a great leader.
24:23But his life soon takes a turn for the worse.
24:31Prone to melancholy since childhood, the emperor becomes antisocial, erratic, and paranoid.
24:39He stays cloistered in his castle.
24:45Rudolf's reign soon becomes a disaster.
24:55Unfit to rule, Rudolf is forced to leave his castle.
24:59He has no choice but to leave.
25:02Unfit to rule, Rudolf loses his supporters.
25:06His own family banishes him from the throne.
25:11The emperor dies powerless and unmarried, with no heirs to amend his tarnished image.
25:24Rudolf's former kingdom falls into enemy hands.
25:28Swedish armies sack the royal library.
25:31They confiscate perhaps its most extraordinary manuscript, the Codex Gigas.
25:44Centuries later, a Codex headquarters in the Swedish National Library.
25:49It's hard to imagine such upheaval and chaos.
25:52The investigating team is narrowing their search for the mysterious scribe of the Devil's Bible.
25:59They need more information to determine whether it was the work of only one monk acting alone.
26:07But the more of the Codex they examine, the harder it is to imagine.
26:12How did Rudolf get the Codex?
26:14Even for an expert in ancient calligraphy, the time needed to complete the book is a tricky calculation.
26:21Michael Gullick first estimates the time it would take to complete one line.
26:26To do it, he must recreate the 13th line.
26:30It's a very difficult task.
26:33It's a very difficult task.
26:36It's a very difficult task.
26:38The time it would take to complete one line.
26:41To do it, he must recreate the 13th century.
26:45Replicating the science of scribes.
26:49Applying his hand to the blank page, Michael duplicates the 12-point Latin font taken from a page of the Devil's Bible.
26:58The quill can only move so fast across a piece of parchment.
27:03And that's as true today as it was 700 years ago.
27:06We could then multiply up and work out from the number of lines how long it might have taken the scribe to work.
27:12Michael estimates that writing non-stop, a scribe could have completed one line in 20 seconds.
27:19A column in 30 minutes.
27:22A page in an hour.
27:24And to complete the manuscript, working round the clock, roughly 5 years.
27:30But there's a catch.
27:31Monks had rigorous duties, with only a few writing hours allowed each day.
27:37In addition, the actual calligraphy was only a fraction of the job.
27:42So, OK, 5 years hard writing, but it takes us long to rule, so that immediately makes 10 years.
27:51He had to make the decorated initials, and sometimes the initials may have taken 2 or 3 days each to do.
27:57He would have had to correct his text.
27:58He would have had to go to church on Sundays.
28:00And you add on all the other factors, we then come to something like a minimum of 20 years to produce.
28:07I prefer something like 25 to 30.
28:10And there's more to the maths.
28:13Working under 13th century conditions, writing the Codex would have been back-breaking labour.
28:19That in itself may be a clue.
28:21In medieval monasteries, copying a holy book was a common form of penance.
28:26Laborious, physically taxing work that gave a scribe a chance to purge his soul.
28:32The medieval believed that it was possible to expiate one's sins by copying the texts.
28:41And there are other signs that suggest it might have been the work of a condemned monk on a mission.
28:48The book's content is highly unusual.
28:50From holy tracts to histories and cures, it's a combination found in no other book.
28:56Experts note its emphasis on caring for the body and mind, and protecting the immortal soul.
29:03It is absolutely, completely enormous.
29:06It is absolutely mad.
29:08It is loony.
29:10There are no other manuscripts like it.
29:12It contains a combination of text that exists nowhere else.
29:15Was the monk creating a guide to save himself?
29:21One section in particular supports the idea that the Codex might have been driven by a guilty conscience.
29:28A group of spells called Conjurations, close relatives to a more infamous ritual, Exorcism.
29:38What you see in the Codex, Kyrgyz, is this image of a monk.
29:42What you see in the Codex, Kyrgyz, is this image almost of the devil ready to pounce.
29:49And I think one of the strongest images really of medieval times, and it lives on to an extent today,
29:55is the idea that not only would the devil pounce on you, but somehow would get inside you and would inhabit you.
30:00And that the way that you dealt with that was by exorcising them, by calling out the devil in God's name.
30:06No other Bible contains a devil's portrait and demonic conjurations.
30:12In the Codex, they're side by side.
30:15Was the writer performing a kind of self-exorcism?
30:22Medieval exorcisms and conjurations were often terrifying.
30:27Physical restraints, fevered prayers, haunting incantations, clergy and victim
30:32battled over the soul of the possessed.
30:41Often, conjuration spells worked like preventative medicine, driving out demons before they took hold.
30:49To scholars looking to identify the Codex's true author, such volatile content offers valuable clues.
30:57Codex Gigas, page 290.
31:02Conjuration cures for dangerous illnesses.
31:09To perform the Codex ritual spell, the priest stands over the sick disciple.
31:15He makes signs of the cross.
31:19He dares to address evil by name, calling out demons by their Latin titles.
31:27He bellows stories of Jesus, the angels and disciples.
31:32He orders evil temptation to leave the afflicted servant of God.
31:38He prays for the damned to be redeemed.
31:45Deciphering the Codex today, the conjuration seemed to support the theory of a lone scribe.
31:52A single monk atoning for his sins, penning the most ambitious book of his time.
32:02But the question remains, how could such an eerily flawless manuscript exist?
32:08What kind of extraordinary scribe could have done it?
32:11Or did some scribe cabal, band together, determined to pass as one?
32:16As the team's time with the manuscript is running out,
32:19they turn their attention to more forensic evidence to unmask the creator of the Devil's Bible.
32:321648, Prague.
32:35After the fall of Rudolf II, invading Swedish troops pillage valuable spoils.
32:41Among them, the Devil's Bible.
32:44The soldiers pack the priceless manuscript in a giant trunk,
32:48and make the nearly 900-mile journey back to Stockholm.
32:54Many have no idea what book travels by their side.
32:58Others may have heard sinister rumors of a Bible touched by evil, written by the Devil himself.
33:05Officers plan to present the codex to their unusual ruling monarch,
33:09Kristina, Europe's reigning female king.
33:1522 years earlier, in a royal castle in Stockholm, a girl's birth carries powerful prophecies.
33:22If the child survives the night, many believe she will rise to greatness.
33:26One man's determined to steer her destiny.
33:29Kristina's father, King Gustav II.
33:33Two of his children have already died.
33:36Kristina is his only heir.
33:41The king vows to treat Kristina as if she had been his own daughter.
33:46Kristina's father, King Gustav II.
33:49Kristina's father, King Gustav II.
33:52The king vows to treat Kristina as if she had been a he.
33:57He raises, dresses, and schools her as a boy.
34:03The girl takes her father's wishes to heart.
34:06When she becomes monarch, she swears in, not under the oath of queen, but king.
34:14Now, as her army prepares to present the Devil's Bible,
34:18they hope she'll be pleased with this striking oddity.
34:28Kristina orders the codex placed in her castle library.
34:32In an official catalogue, the codex is listed first of all her valuable confiscated manuscripts.
34:43But she would not keep it for long.
34:45The king's fate soon takes a tumultuous turn.
34:50As does her Devil's Bible.
34:55In less than a decade, Kristina abdicates the throne.
34:59She makes a radical conversion to Catholicism, planning to exile herself in Rome.
35:05The She-King packs her most valuable possessions, including many holy Bibles.
35:11But mysteriously, she leaves the codex gigas behind.
35:16Less than 50 years later, the codex is nearly destroyed in a catastrophic castle fire.
35:32Inside the royal castle, a body lies in state.
35:36The recently deceased King Charles XI.
35:41Without warning, the castle erupts in a raging blaze.
35:45Room after room is engulfed in flame.
35:50The royal family evacuates in panic.
35:53Castle workers rush to save whatever they can.
35:56The king's mortal remains, precious valuables, and books.
36:03According to legend, a servant grabs hold of the giant codex gigas,
36:07wrestles it to a window, and throws the massive manuscript to the ground.
36:14The codex survives.
36:16But it's another explosive chapter in the book's history.
36:23The fire causes devastating destruction.
36:26The castle's official fire watchers are condemned to torture.
36:30Today, the codex investigators look for any signs of the 1697 castle fire's damage.
36:37It would explain an enduring mystery.
36:40Certain codex pages are tinged with burned-looking shadows.
36:52What do you think?
36:54Nothing, just sort of noticed.
36:56Yet fire would leave other evidence.
36:59Melted ink, a burnt binding, curled or broken edges.
37:04Evidence nowhere to be found.
37:08Instead, the shadow follows a peculiar pattern.
37:12It only appears in the pages near Satan.
37:15The superstitious see the mark of evil possession.
37:19It is striking when you turn through the pages of the manuscript.
37:23This double-page spread is just darker all the way around.
37:30Michael Gulick believes he can find a logical explanation for the striking stains.
37:42He first examines several loose sheets that have fallen from the ceiling.
37:46He finds several loose sheets that have fallen out over time.
37:50Under a microscope, they show normal wear and tear.
37:54It helps establish a sort of damaged baseline.
37:59This page has got a lot of dirt and staining, and therefore it's discoloured.
38:06Now, this has just accumulated over centuries.
38:10But, compared to the baseline, the devil's page shows a much darker stain.
38:16Michael now compares each of the sections to a sheet of modern parchment.
38:21In fact, these pages aren't paper. They're protein.
38:25Many medieval books used a parchment-like material made from animal skins called vellum.
38:33Some scholars believe the devil's Bible used as many as 160 calf skins, a medieval form of recycling.
38:41The skin is really a by-product of what was left over from eating.
38:44So, certainly, if you lived in a monastic community and the monks had all had lamb chops one night, there was plenty of skin left over.
38:51But how to explain the vellum's strange staining?
38:55Could this have been the work of the mysterious author?
38:59The superstitious see more than a coincidence of dark shadows appearing on the devil's page.
39:05They see the mark of evil possession.
39:09Michael Gulick believes he's found the answer.
39:12The seemingly demonic discoloration wasn't caused by the prince of darkness, but natural light.
39:20Over time, exposure to sunlight effectively tanned the animal skins.
39:27It seems human hands, not the devil's touch, sparked the spooky staining.
39:33The result of people turning to the Satan portrait page more than any other.
39:37Again and again, for some 800 years.
39:51After eight centuries, the Codex Gigas devil's Bible mystery may soon be unraveled.
39:57In their hunt for the scribe's identity, the investigating team zeroes in on the final critical evidence.
40:06After collecting all the information, manuscript expert Michael Gulick wants to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt the massive work was indeed the work of one person.
40:18To do it, he's using one of the definitive tools of his trade.
40:22To do it, he's using one of the definitive tools of his trade.
40:27A detailed handwriting analysis called graphology.
40:33Graphology hinges on a single fact.
40:36No two handwriting samples are identical.
40:39Like fingerprints, multiple monks would have left their marks on the Codex.
40:44Examining the devil's Bible, our experts look for distinct signs.
40:49Slant, pressure, angle, spacing and style.
40:53To an expert eye, the style of a specific recurring detail, such as a flourishing letter, can speak volumes.
41:03They zero in on the Gs.
41:06And what is interesting about the Gs in the Codex Gigas is that, first, it's a very old-fashioned form,
41:14because I would expect the bottom bowl, as it's called, to be closed up, whereas here it's open.
41:20And if this is consistent all the way through the manuscript, I would then think that the Gs are the same.
41:27Even under close inspection, the old-fashioned Gs, along with every other major marker, are uniform.
41:34I would then think that that's very much a pointer to one scribe.
41:43Even under close inspection, the old-fashioned Gs, along with every other major marker, are uniform.
41:57At last, after multiple tests, they have their answer.
42:05From its identical ink formulas, to its homegrown calligraphy, to its controversial content,
42:13the Codex Gigas is the work of a single scribe.
42:21That means that part of the demonic legend surrounding the Codex is true.
42:28According to the myth, it was written by one monk in just one night, after a pact with the devil.
42:35Now there's proof. It was the work of just one person.
42:40But not in one night. This took decades of devotion and dedication.
42:46From a scribe whose work exists nowhere else.
42:50It's very distinctive. I'm absolutely certain if we found the hand of that scribe in any other manuscript, ever,
42:57we would recognize it. As far as I know, no one has ever seen his hand anywhere else.
43:02Who was capable of such a feat? And what motivated him?
43:07The investigation isn't over yet. The team looks for final elements that might at last identify this super scribe.
43:20At the pinnacle of their extensive examination, the research team now has a powerful theory.
43:32The demonic legend of the Devil's Bible may have been built on a major misunderstanding.
43:40It's possible that he himself sees himself as a sinner, but there's no evidence.
43:46There's nothing in the book at all that would tell you the circumstances why he might think that.
43:52The team unmasks a pivotal revelation that changes the legend of the Devil's Bible forever.
44:00The book is a book of the Bible.
44:03The team unmasks a pivotal revelation that changes the legend of the Devil's Bible forever.
44:11A centuries-old misinterpretation hinged on a single Latin word found in the Codex itself.
44:19Inclusus. Inclusion.
44:24Over the years, some have interpreted Inclusus as a horrific punishment being walled up alive.
44:34Yet its true meaning is closer to recluse, a solitary monk in a solitary cell choosing to shut out the world.
44:46For the monk who completed the Codex Gigas, it was likely a quest for enlightenment
44:52and the chance to create and finish the work of a lifetime.
44:56A scribe inspired by honor, not evil.
45:04And here, perhaps, is his final redemption.
45:08Directly opposite the Devil, a picture of the Kingdom of Heaven.
45:20The duality of horror and of bliss.
45:24It's the ultimate battleground.
45:26Good and evil.
45:28Facing each other for eternity in the pages of the Codex Gigas.
45:35What we're seeing there in juxtaposing the Devil and the Heavenly City
45:40is really the two choices that confront mankind.
45:44And finally, examining a list of names in the back of the Codex,
45:49the team unmasks a posthumous credit.
45:51Hermannus, Monarchus, Inclusus.
45:57Though the scribe's actual name may never be verified,
46:01this single entry may say it all.
46:04Hermann Inclusus, or Hermann the Recluse.
46:10I think our new examination has proved beyond any reasonable shadow of a doubt
46:16that this was indeed the work of one person.
46:18Which meant, yes, that he was a monk, but he was a recluse,
46:23in the sense that he would have spent his time alone.
46:27And therefore, it was a work of a lifetime to achieve.
46:32A Benedictine monk pleads, not with Satan, but his superiors,
46:38to be isolated in a cell.
46:40To write the greatest book of his age, containing the Bible and all human knowledge.
46:48It will survive eight centuries. Plague, war, and fire.
46:54A divine mission, mistakenly dubbed the Devil's Bible.