Pope Julius II excommunicates Venice on April 27, 1509 

Pope Julius II
From 500th Anniv. of Saint Peter’s Basilica
Vatican Post issued the set June 22, 2006

Venice
From Tourism 2021 series
Italian post issued the stamp June 30, 2021

In a fit of pique, the Pope booted the entire city-state of Venice to the curb during a political tussle over territory and power. Initially Venice refused to submit to the Pope’s demands, going so far as preventing the Papal Bull regarding the city’s excommunication being posted in the city or any of the territories, they controlled. 

By May of 1509, faced with an invading French force, then allied with the Pope, Venice chose to submit to Papal authority and surrender the lands Julius demanded. In a classic bit of Popery intrigue, the Pope abandoned the French and switched alliances to Venice, thus effectively pushing back the potential threat from a too powerful French king.  

On 27 April 1509 pope Julius II excommunicated the city-state of Venice, with which he was at war for possession of territories in Romagna. Pope Julius II, born Giuliano della Rovere, is famous as the ‘Warrior Pope,’ but he was also a patron of the arts. He demolished Old St Peter’s and began its reconstruction on the basis of new projects, and employed artists and architects like Bramante, Raphael, Michelangelo and Giulio Romano. Several of Michelangelo’s greatest works were commissioned by Julius II, including the Sistine Chapel and the pope’s monumental tomb completed after Michelangelo’s death. On 27 April 1509 pope Julius II excommunicated the city-state of Venice. – Italian Art Society