Never did the affairs of Papacy and Empire run in more separate courses than during the reign of Conrad III. While Europe as a whole paid unquestioning obedience to the Papal power, the last period of the Pontificate of Innocent II., and nearly the whole of the reigns of his immediate successors, were occupied in sordid struggles with the Roman nobility, with disobedient neighbours, and with rebellious vassals. After the retreat of Lothair over the Alps, Innocent II. was again left, in 1137, to contend against the Antipope and his partisans. His position was, however, stronger than it had been, and he was able to maintain himself in Rome, despite Anacletus’ continued presence in the castle of St. Angelo. But the loss of the imperial presence was soon far more than balanced by the arrival of a man whose support outweighed that of kings and princes. In the spring of 1137 Bernard crossed the Alps, resolved to make a last desperate effort to root out the remnants of the schism that he had laboured against for seven years. He reached Rome, and instead of falling back on his usual methods of violent and indiscriminate denunciation, he prudently had recourse to private conferences with the few despairing partisans of the schismatic Peter. There is perhaps no more convincing testimony to Bernard’s powers of persuasion than his victory over the rude Roman barons and greedy self-seeking priests, who upheld the Antipope through family tradition or through fear of losing their revenues. He had talked many of them over when the opportune death of the Antipope in January 1138 precipitated his inevitable triumph. The schismatics chose a new Antipope, who took the name of Victor IV., but his policy was to negotiate terms of surrender, not to prolong the division. In a few weeks Bernard persuaded him to surrender his dignity to Innocent. Bernard at once returned to Clairvaux, the crowning work of his life successfully accomplished. [Sidenote: The Second General Lateran Council, 1139.] In April 1139 Innocent II. consummated his triumph by holding a General Council in the Lateran, which was attended by a thousand bishops. This second Lateran Council was reckoned by the Westerns as the Tenth General Council. It removed the last traces of the schism, and re-enacted more formally the canons already drawn up in the Pope’s presence at the Council of Reims of 1131. It is significant of the future that the Council condemned the errors of Arnold of Brescia. [Sidenote: Innocent II. and Roger II. of Sicily.]