The party of nobles in Rome, not heeding the wishes of Stephen IX., immediately elected as Pope Benedict X., and every friend of reform was driven from the city. Hildebrand upon returning to Rome secured the elevation of Gerhard, Bishop of Florence, to the papal chair and inaugurated him without difficulty, whereupon Benedict X. surrendered and was pardoned, though degraded and confined for life within the precincts of St. Maria Maggiore.[439:1] The new Pope, Nicholas II., practically allowed Hildebrand to dictate his policy. First he sought to free the Church from imperial domination and to elevate it above the state. The death of Henry III. (1056) and the coronation of his son of six as Henry IV. removed a powerful barrier to that object. Germany was divided into an imperial and anti-imperial party. In this condition Italian influence could be used as the determining factor in German politics, hence the states of Italy were forced to recognise the over-sovereignty of the Pope. In the next place Nicholas II. endeavoured to regulate the papal elections so as to prevent a repetition of the election of Benedict X. and at the same time to eliminate the influence of the Emperor. The Lateran Council held April 13, 1059, attended by the Pope and one hundred and thirteen bishops,[439:2] many abbots, and a vast concourse of priests and deacons, after condemning Benedict X., prohibiting simony, denouncing lay investiture, and decreeing celibacy to be the law of the Church, created the College of Cardinals.[439:3] The election of the Pope was now put into the hands of the Roman cardinal-bishops,[439:4] who were to submit their nominee to the lower clergy and the people for approval. This practically excluded both the Roman nobles and the Roman Emperor. This edict was the greatest revolution ever attempted in the hierarchy. It was an effort to give the Papacy a constitution which would make it independent. An election by any hands but the cardinals' could now be called unconstitutional or uncanonical. And any person who attempted to resist or impugn the regulation was to be smitten with an awful curse: