If Herbert ever actually got possession of his country, his possession of it was short.  He died in 1063 before either of the contemplated marriages had been carried out.  William therefore stood towards Maine as he expected to stand with regard to England.  The sovereign of each country had made a formal settlement of his dominions in his favour.  It was to be seen whether those who were most immediately concerned would accept that settlement.  Was the rule either of Maine or of England to be handed over in this way, like a mere property, without the people who were to be ruled speaking their minds on the matter?  What the people of England said to this question in 1066 we shall hear presently; what the people of Maine said in 1063 we hear now.  We know not why they had submitted to the Angevin count; they had now no mind to merge their country in the dominions of the Norman duke.  The Bishop was neutral; but the nobles and the citizens of Le Mans were of one mind in refusing William’s demand to be received as count by virtue of the agreement with Herbert.  They chose rulers for themselves.  Passing by Gersendis and Paula and their sons, they sent for Herbert’s aunt Biota and her husband Walter Count of Mantes.  Strangely enough, Walter, son of Godgifu daughter of AEthelred, was a possible, though not a likely, candidate for the rule of England as well as of Maine.  The people of Maine are not likely to have thought of this bit of genealogy.  But it was doubtless present to the minds alike of William and of Harold.

William thus, for the first but not for the last time, claimed the rule of a people who had no mind to have him as their ruler.  Yet, morally worthless as were his claims over Maine, in the merely technical way of looking at things, he had more to say than most princes have who annex the lands of their neighbours.  He had a perfectly good right by the terms of the agreement with Herbert.  And it might be argued by any who admitted the Norman claim to the homage of Maine, that on the failure of male heirs the country reverted to the overlord.  Yet female succession was now coming in.  Anjou had passed to the sons of Geoffrey’s sister; it had not fallen back to the French king.  There was thus a twofold answer to William’s claim, that Herbert could not grant away even the rights of his sisters, still less the rights of his people.  Still it was characteristic of William that he had a case that might be plausibly argued.  The people of Maine had fallen back on the old Teutonic right.  They had chosen a prince connected with the old stock, but who was not the next heir according to any rule of succession.  Walter was hardly worthy of such an exceptional honour; he showed no more energy in Maine than his brother Ralph had shown in England.  The city was defended by Geoffrey, lord of Mayenne, a valiant man who fills a large place in the local history.  But no valour or skill could withstand William’s plan of warfare.  He invaded