His foreign neighbours also gave William some trouble. The province of Maine, which he had conquered in 1063, threw off his allegiance. The citizens of Le Mans had risen in insurrection against their lords, and formed themselves into a free commune; but Geoffrey of Mayenne, a nobleman whose help they had sought, betrayed the burghers in their efforts to reduce one of the neighbouring nobility, and they were obliged to call in the assistance of Fulk of Anjou, who had claims upon the province. William reduced Le Mans, but was obliged to make a peace with Fulk, who had strengthened himself by an alliance with the Bretons; and, by the treaty of Blanchelande, William’s son Robert took the government of Maine, but did homage for it to Anjou. [Sidenote: Conspiracy of Norman nobles suppressed. 1076.] [Sidenote: Waltheof executed. 1076.] While affairs on the Continent were thus occupying his attention, in 1075 a conspiracy of his own nobles in England broke out. Ralph of Gwader (or Wader), the son of Ralph the Staller and a Breton lady, had been intrusted with the Earldom of Norfolk. Roger, the son of William Fitz-Osbern, had succeeded to the Earldom of Hereford. These two nobles sought to ally their houses, and, against the will of William, Ralph married Emma, Roger’s sister. At the bridal feast Waltheof of Nottingham, the one remaining English Earl, was present, and there a conspiracy was entered into, apparently on account of the strong hold which William kept over his nobles, and in the interests of more perfect feudalism. The kingdom was to be divided among the three earls, one of whom was to be king. Waltheof had been well treated by the King, and married to his niece Judith. His conscience seems to have pricked him, and he confessed all to Lanfranc, at that time governing England. The conspiracy was at once suppressed; Norwich alone, under Emma, the new married bride, made a brave defence. Ralph fled to Brittany. Roger was taken prisoner, and spent his life in captivity. Waltheof was at first received into favour, but afterwards, it is believed at the instigation of his wife, he was tried before the Witan and found guilty of death. The sentence was executed in secret outside the town of Winchester. During his imprisonment the Earl’s penitence had been deep, and it was while still on his knees uttering the Lord’s Prayer that the impatient executioner smote off his head. The national hero, dying in this religious state of mind, speedily became the national saint. His remains were removed to Crowland, which he had much benefited, and miracles were worked at his tomb. The confiscation of the property of these two earldoms, and the death of Queen Edith, the widow of the Confessor, threw great property into the hands of William, who did not reappoint to the earldoms. [Sidenote: Quarrels between William and his sons.] [Sidenote: Reconciliation at Gerberoi. 1079.]