On 28 September 1106, King Henry I of England defeated his older brother, Duke Robert Curthose of Normandy, in battle near Tinchebray in southern Normandy. For all that this battle allowed Henry to reunite the two parts of his father’s regnum under one ruler, the coup de grace at Tinchebray was delivered not by Henry himself, nor by his familia. Instead, Henry’s allies, the troops of Maine and Anjou under the command of Count Helias of Maine, led the charge that broke Curthose’s line and delivered Normandy to Henry. Tinchebray has been ably studied by several recent historians, including Warren Hollister, and this paper has no intention of further considering the tactics or consequences of Henry’s great victory. What has not been as carefully considered as the battle itself, however, is the significance of the presence of Count Helias in Henry’s army. Aside from some comments by Hollister, themselves partly indebted to an earlier version of this paper, the presence of Helias in the Norman host (as well as that of Geoffrey Martel, count-inwaiting of Anjou) has been taken for granted. Yet the Manceaux in general and Count Helias in particular could hardly have been expected to love William the Conqueror or his sons. Ever since the first Norman conquest – of Maine, in 1063 – the Manceaux had chafed at the Norman yoke, rebelling twice against the Conqueror and in turn being thrice subjected to the full weight of William’s military might. The resistance of the Manceaux to Norman rule became such a trope in western France in the late eleventh century that Orderic Vitalis was famously led to gloss the Latin word for Maine as ‘canine madness’ and, by consequence, to essentialize the impudent and rebellious nature of its inhabitants. The death of the Conqueror changed little in this regard, for the Manceaux continued to revolt against his sons, rising against Robert Curthose in 1088–89 and against William Rufus in 1098–1100. During this period, one of the chief opponents of Norman rule was Helias, son of the castellan-lord of La Flèche and eventual count of Maine.