He was the parish priest in his birthplace when the War of Spanish Independence began in 1808. After a quarrel with the French military, he fled from his village and led a guerrilla group that never suffered defeat. King Ferdinand VII rewarded him with a seat in the Valencia's cathedral chapter but, his rough lifestyle did not adapt to this kind of life (he even piped a fellow), and returned to his village. When the liberal revolution of 1820 succeeded he returned to lead a guerrilla group until the French absolutist invasion of 1823.