The condition of the Papacy was still critical, though the persistence of Eugenius III. had broken the back of the Roman opposition, and Arnold of Brescia had already begun to lose influence among the fickle Romans. But Eugenius III. had died on 8th July 1153, and his successor, the mild Anastasius IV., dwelt continuously in Rome until his death, after a reign of less than a year and a half, on 3rd December 1154. The next Pope, Adrian IV., was the only Englishman who ever occupied the throne of St. Peter. The son of a poor man, Nicholas Breakspear had adopted the life of a wandering scholar, and had worked his way up to the headship of the house of Canons Regular of St. Rufus, near Valence on the Rhone. [Sidenote: Adrian IV., 1154–1159.] His stern rule excited the hostility of the canons whose complaints to Eugenius III. first attracted the Pope’s notice to him. In 1146 he was made cardinal-bishop of Albano, and was soon afterwards sent on an important legation to Scandinavia, in the course of which he freed the northern churches from their dependency on Germany, by setting up the new archbishopric of Trondhjem. Soon after his return he was elected to the Papacy. Adrian IV. was a man of high character, sound learning, and kindly disposition. He fully felt the responsibility of his great office, declaring that ‘the Pope’s tiara was splendid because it burnt like fire.’ His pontificate began amidst street-fights in which a cardinal was slain; but Adrian took the strong measure of laying Rome under interdict, and the inconstant citizens, whose gains were decreased by the refusal of pilgrims to visit a city under the Pope’s ban, made their submission to him and drove out Arnold of Brescia, who spent the short remainder of his life as a wandering fugitive. But William, the new King of Sicily, devastated Campania, and threatened to march on Rome. In his despair, Adrian renewed with Frederick the Treaty of Constance, and went out to Nepi to meet him. The good understanding was almost destroyed when Frederick refused to hold the bridle of the Pope’s horse and assist him to dismount, and the alliance was only renewed by Frederick’s submission, which was rendered necessary by the sullen hostility of the Romans to Frederick and Adrian alike. [Sidenote: Coronation of Frederick, 18th June 1155.] On 18th June Adrian crowned Frederick Emperor in St. Peter’s, hastily and almost secretly, for fear of the Romans, who, on hearing of it, rushed to arms. Frederick could only hold his ground by hard fighting, and soon lack of provisions forced him to flee from Rome, taking the Pope with him. The fierce heat of the Italian summer had already decimated Frederick’s little army, and he now resolved to recross the Alps, leaving Adrian to his fate. [Sidenote: Death of Arnold of Brescia.] The only act of power that had followed the reconciliation of Pope and Emperor was the execution of Arnold of Brescia, who had been taken prisoner in Tuscany