Codices and manuscripts scattered around European archives and libraries testify to the long cultural journey of the European civilization. Prestige, power and authority were considered as significant elements of a culture and society which not only left numerous witnesses of themselves, but also interacted with subsequent historical events. An entire series of considerations and reflections related to the emergence and development of a specific European culture since the Middle Ages, a culture characterized by elements of cosmopolitanism and pluralism, allow for the identification of a real cultural heritage which still works within the social and political fabric of a vast territory that found a common reference point in the European Union.