According to Gregorovius, he was a “maverick” in the great Pierleoni family, for he continued to oppose the papacy after Anacletus' death, when the rest of his clan had returned to support of Rome.
In late autumn 1143, the democratic element in Rome set up a Senate in opposition to the higher nobility and the papacy.
However, Pierleoni was unable to maintain order in the city despite his overtures of negotiations with Lucius—demanding the pope renounce secular authority and live as a common priest before being allowed reentry into the city, —he was deposed by the people who invited Pope Eugene III, Lucius' successor, back.
The power vacuum left by Pierleoni's deposition caused even more chaos, and eventually resulted in the pope leaving the city.
After this, Giacomo da Vico, was elected patrician—though a man his equal, Arnold of Brescia, had arrived in the commune in 1145.