Like a historical thriller, this book recounts how the powerful Valencian monastery of Santa María de Valldigna remained in open rebellion against both the king and Rome for five years (1665–1670). We encounter armed monks, attempts to kill the Castilian visitor sent to inspect the house, and a shocking sacrilegious scandal in an aristocratic convent of nuns. Behind these events lies the complex judicial machinery of the Old Regime and, with it, the limits of absolutism during a critical juncture—the minority of Charles II, the regency of Queen Mariana, and the bitter conflict between Nithard and Don Juan José of Austria. The sources are exceptional, above all the protagonist’s autobiographical account.