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.
摘要本文试图了解1580年至1640年间葡萄牙海外领地的运作情况,这段时间,王国和帝国发现自己处于西班牙君主制的保护伞下,最终由马德里而不是里斯本统治。作者的目的是确定在这一时期关于葡萄牙帝国的政治信息的性质及其收集、评估和传播的手段方面有什么新的或不同的地方。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处理“其他”帝国的书面和视觉材料的类型。接下来,它深入研究了这一时期最重要的信息形式之一:仲裁及其证据和建议的丰富相互作用。最后,本文调查了出于宣传目的而故意传播的帝国新闻,以及通过所谓的“继承者关系”(relaciones de succos)讲述的战争故事所起的作用。他们认为葡萄牙帝国的信息结构在这60年里发生了重大变化,并讨论了主要的转变。