Dealing with Defeat: Dutch Brazil (1624) and English Jamaica (1655) in Newspapers from the Habsburg Netherlands

Covering defeat or disaster in print required considerable journalistic finesse in the Southern Netherlandish news market, since the primary role of privileged courantiers in the Habsburg empire was to provide accounts of royal successes. This article investigates the ways in which the Antwerp printer-publisher Abraham Verhoeven and Brussels newsman Pierre Hugonet covered two main Atlantic events with a negative outcome for the Habsburg monarchy: the Dutch invasion of Brazil in 1624 and the English capture of Jamaica in 1655 respectively. By comparing these major Atlantic news stories, this ar... Mehr ...