Venetian Interdict

The Venetian Interdict of 1606 and 1607 was the expression in terms of canon law, by means of a papal interdict, of a diplomatic quarrel and confrontation between the Papal Curia and the Republic of Venice, taking place in the period from 1605 to 1607. While it was active, the Interdict saw expulsions of some religious orders from Venice, a pamphlet war, and intense diplomacy by France and Spain to resolve the issue.

There had been previous interdicts laid on Venice. In 1202 the Venetian siege of Zadar during the Fourth Crusade led Pope Innocent III to excommunicate the army. In 1284, Pope Martin IV imposed an interdict because of Venice's refusal to support a crusade.Pope Clement V addressed escalating measures against Venice after the 1308 capture of Ferrara; and later in the War of Ferrara of the 1480s Pope Sixtus IV laid an interdict on Venice, an erstwhile ally. In 1509 Pope Julius II placed Venice under interdict, during the War of the League of Cambrai, to further the papal cause in warfare in the Romagna.

In 1605 Venice took measures to counter a papal attack on the way the Republic exerted control over its Catholic clergy. Pope Paul V treated Venice's approach, on civil jurisdiction over clerics and church property, as anti-clerical; Leonardo Donato, an opponent of papal power, was elected Doge early in 1606.

Based on the case current at the time of two arrested clerics, the Pope issued an interdict against Venice in April 1606. In diplomatic moves, Philip III of Spain encouraged the Papacy to press its case; while Henry IV of France supported Venice.

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