Legitimization by Consent in Juan de Torquemada's Defense of the Roman Empire

Although the Holy Roman Empire did not rule Europe, ideas of Roman supremacy remained alive in the 15th century. This proved controversial in other lands. One controversy over Roman hegemony pitted two Castilian prelates against one another. Rodrigo Sanchez de Arevalo attacked the legitimacy of the Empire, but Cardinal Juan de Torquemada defended it. His argument for legitimacy turned on consent, a key concept in late medieval political thought. Torquemada admitted that the Romans has extended their empire by conquest, but he argued that their effective rule over conquered peoples earned legitimacy through consent. His argument avoided making the Empire's legitimacy solely a result of authorization by the papacy.