ABSTRACT

This essay seeks to understand the workings of Portugal’s overseas domains between 1580 and 1640, the time when kingdom and empire found themselves under the umbrella of the Hispanic Monarchy and were ultimately ruled from Madrid in lieu of Lisbon. The authors aim to identify what was new or different during this period with regard to the nature of political information on the Portuguese Empire, and the means of its collection, assessment and transmission. The article begins by perusing the institutional arrangements that made possible this model of imperial management, while simultaneously examining the types of written and visual materials that helped the three Spanish kings of Portugal to learn about and handle their ‘other’ empire. Next, it delves into one of the most important modalities of information during this period: the arbitrio and its rich interplay of evidence and advice. Lastly, the article investigates the deliberate dissemination of imperial news for propaganda purposes and the role played by war stories recounted through the so-called relaciones de sucesos. They argue that the informational fabric of the Portuguese Empire changed significantly during these 60 years and discuss the main transformations introduced.

摘要

本文旨在了解 1580 年至 1640 年间葡萄牙海外领地的运作情况，当时葡萄牙王国和帝国发现自己处于西班牙君主制的保护之下，并最终由马德里代替里斯本进行统治。作者的目的是确定这一时期葡萄牙帝国政治信息的性质及其收集、评估和传播的方式有哪些新的或不同的内容。本文首先仔细研究了使这种帝国管理模式成为可能的制度安排，同时研究了帮助葡萄牙的三位西班牙国王了解和管理他们的“另一个”帝国的书面和视觉材料的类型。接下来，它深入探讨了这一时期最重要的信息方式之一：arbitrio及其丰富的证据和建议的相互作用。最后，本文探讨了出于宣传目的而故意传播帝国新闻以及通过所谓的“继承关系”讲述战争故事所发挥的作用。他们认为葡萄牙帝国的信息结构在这 60 年间发生了显着变化，并讨论了所引入的主要转变。