Even if it was not conceived as a "manuscript" library, the Braidense possesses a great collection of them, circa 2,000, of which 350 medieval.
The first ones belonged to the old collections, that is the libraries of Count Carlo Pertusati and of the Jesuits.
Other were acquired after the suppression of the religious Congregations by Joseph II and Napoleon, as it happened for the Monastery Library of the Certosa of Pavia and of the Benedectine Monastery of Saint Giustina of Padua.
The manuscript section was created by Luigi Lamberti (1759-1813), director of the Braidense from 1803, who was a scholar of classics, member of many academies and holder of the Chair of Eloquence at the Liceo of Brera, formerly a chair of Parini.
In 1889 the library bought at auction 156 codes from the librarian Ackerman of Leipzig, which were a part of the enormous collection of Carlo Morbio (1811-1881).
The collection is made out of chronicles, correspondence, cards, parchment collections, which deal mainly with Milan and Lombardy from the 14th century to the first half of the 19th century.
The manuscripts, as well as the works of art, the monuments and the archaeological finds, are a legacy of the past and a part of the cultural assets of the country.
Their conservation and protection appertains to public and private institutions which are in charge of these matters.
The Braidense, a historical library of international reputation, has the institutional duties to keep its holdings and to offer them to scholars, so to take the role of a consultation library, without forgetting the preservation of its holdings.
The manuscripts can therefore not be consulted out of pure curiosity, but only for well-founded study reasons.