Forced monachizations, judicial strategies and noble logic: Sister Anna Maddalena Valdina

In 1640 Anna, the daughter of the prince of Valdina, was forced to live in a convent (for patrimonial reasons) in Palermo along with three sisters. She was seven years old and remained there until 1699. First she asked her father and then her brother to leave the monastic life that she never accepted. Her story is inscribed within the phenomenon of the so-called "forced monachizations ", to which the Council of Trent had tried to remedy for. After the death of her brother, in 1693, now about sixty years old Anna asked the archbishop of Palermo to nullify his religious profession and to return to the lay state. Thus begins a very severe judicial dispute that triggers a violent jurisdictional conflict between the ecclesiastical and secular magistracies, the Vatican congregation of bishops and the Sicilian magistracies that ends up involving the king of Spain and the Pope. The exceptionality of the case- study lies in the possibility of its close contextualization thanks to the rich documentation produced by that judicial litigation, in the course of witch Anna wrote numerous memorials that reveal judicial strategies, noble logic, and other aspects of her strong personality.