Facções de Marte: narrativa e discurso sobre a guerra cotidiana nas páginas do Mercurio Portuguez (1663-1666)

• Main Author: Daniel Pimenta Oliveira de Carvalho
• Format: Article
• Language: Spanish
• Published: Diretoria do Patrimônio Histórico e Documentação da Marinha 2014-06-01
• Series: Navigator
• Subjects: Portuguese Restoration; periodic press; narratives of war
• Online Access: http://www.revistanavigator.com.br/navig19/dossie/N19_dossie5.pdf

In Mercurio Portuguez, a monthly periodical written by the Portuguese secretary of State, Antonio de Sousa de Macedo, between 1663 and 1666, during the government of Alphonse VI, most of its news portrayed the events of the Restoration’s war, fought since 1641 against Castile. About this conflict, the historiography has shown its great impact on the lives of people from border areas, plagued daily by looting raids, skirmishes, and other small military exploits. This article wants to demonstrate how the narratives of these minor successes had great relevance for the construction of Macedo’s political discourse, and even for its transformation over the four years of publication. If the initiative to print a journal reveals the political intention of influencing the opinion circulating in Portugal, in Mercurio’s approach on this war of small everyday feats we find crucial elements of his discursive strategies.