Pope Nicholas V Establishes the Vatican Library

With a Brief on April 30, 1451 "pro communi doctorum virorum commodo" (to facilitate the research of scholars) Pope Nicholas V established the Vatican Library by combining some 350 Greek, Latin and Hebrew codices inherited from his predecessors with his own collection and extensive acquisitions.

The Vatican Library, as originally established by Nicholas V, included manuscripts from the Imperial library of Constantinople, rescued or plundered before that library was burned in 1204 when Constantinople was sacked during the Fourth Crusade.