Paul and Leonardo's War

Switzerland was the wealthiest country in Europe and one of the richest in the world. It had two things that other nations found hard to rival: watches and banks.

Swiss banks had always been regarded as the safest in the world. It was said that roughly a quarter of the world's private wealth was stored there. One could say that Swiss banks managed money for the entire world.

Switzerland was also known as a safe deposit box for dirty money. Because the country pursued a policy of neutrality and did not ally itself with any nation, there was no issue of cooperating with extradition requests. Neutrality created independence, allowing it to disregard the laws and regulations of other countries.

However, absolute neutrality was impossible. Venice had once been one of the few countries in Western Europe that dared to oppose the Church.

The figures of the Florentine School looked very restrained, lacking the uninhibited spirit of the Venetian School. The Church had repeatedly criticized Venice, saying sacred subjects should not be depicted in such sensually provocative ways. It also condemned Venetian painters for playing music in churches that made people want to dance. Yet the Venetians remained as they were.

In 1606, a cardinal and an ambassador respectively became pope and Doge of Venice. They were Pope Paul V and Leonardo Donato. The two had long-standing grievances. When they were both in Rome, they began with a discussion of "subject matter," then argued over Venice's right of self-determination. In the end, the cardinal said furiously, "If I ever become pope, I will excommunicate every Venetian."

Leonardo replied, "Excommunicate whoever you like. I don't care."

In the end, the cardinal truly did become pope. Just as he had said, he expelled Venice from the Church.

Venice paid eleven million gold coins