If you thought the Today's New International Version of the Bible caused controversy when it was first published a few years back, try walking into church with something called the Devil's Bible! Of course, you'd need some help carrying it down the aisle; it weighs 165 pounds and is the largest medieval manuscript in the world. According to legend, the massive 13th-century Bible was created when

...a monk was sentenced to be buried alive for a breach in Benedictine conduct. In order to forgo his punishment, he agreed to make the most magnificent book the world had ever seen in honor of his brotherhood. The catch was that he was given just one night to complete this Herculean task.

Around midnight, the monk realized he would not be able to finish by daylight, so he invoked the devil to help him, selling his soul in the process. As a tribute to his helper, the monk included a quirky image of the devil within the manuscript, thus giving the book its nickname.

The actual story--that a dedicated scribe created this Bible over the course of several decades, presumably without infernal assistance--is a bit less sensational. (And really, if you sold your soul to the devil, do you think he'd want to help you create a spectacular Bible?)

The National Library of Sweden website has a nice section about the Devil's Bible, which contains not only a pre-Vulgate Bible but several other ancient church texts. Be sure to take a few minutes to browse the manuscript page-by-page--and try to imagine the amount of painstaking work that must have gone into its creation.

More info and links at its Wikipedia entry and an older news story. Spotted over at Metafilter.