These manuscripts escaped the loss or destruction that befell many volumes of the Lateran registers during and after the transfer of the papal archives by Napoleon Bonaparte to Paris in 1810. The volumes were bought in 1841 by George Montagu, viscount Mandeville (Duke of Manchester after 1843). Richard Gibbings, graduate of Trinity College Dublin and rector of Killyleagh, purchased them from Mandeville. Gibbings sold the manuscripts to Charles W. Wall, vice-provost of Trinity College Dublin, who presented them to the library in 1854.

The Trinity College collection of papal records is divided into three parts. The first part includes 13 volumes of registers of papal correspondence dated from 1389 to 1787. The second part contains sentences and abjurations from the Roman Inquisition with records dated between 1564 and 1660. The third part includes denunciations and examinations from the Roman Inquisition with records dated between 1565 and 1800. The inquisitorial materials largely describe cases in Italy, but there are important cases from Malta and France in the collection.

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