This is a lively account, based on previously unused material, of the events that marked the troubled relationship among Louis XV, the clergy of France, and the Parlement of Paris in the mid-eighteenth century. The book shows how religious disputes came to divide the French elites, giving rise to a debate about the nature of the monarchy. Using the reports of spies and secret agents, the author describes the deliberations inside the Parlement. He also challenges traditional views about "absolutism" and about the "selfishness" of the parlementaires in their approach to public affairs.