Svend Poulsen

Svend Poulsen ( – ), also referred to as Svend Poulsen Gønge was a Danish military commander in the 17th century, serving in the armies of Christian IV, Frederick III, and Christian V. He fought in the Torstenson War, Second Northern War, and the Scanian War, and led the snaphane militia in guerilla warfare against Sweden in occupied Zealand from 1658 to 1659. He was popularized under the name Gøngehøvdingen in 1853, when his exploits were fictionalized under that name by Danish author Carit Etlar. The historicity of his aliases has since been disputed.

Historical account Little is known for certain about the youth of Svend Poulsen. He was probably born around 1610 in north-western Scania or southern Halland. He was a soldier in the army of Christian IV during the 1625-1629 Danish intervention in the Thirty Years' War, and also served in the Dutch Army. He was made an officer in the Danish army in the Torstenson War from 1643 to 1645. He was a citizen of Laholm in Halland, as well as the fictional construction Gøngehøvdingen . Gøngehøvdingen, 1961 film, played by Jens Østerholm Dronningens vagtmester, 1963 film, played by Jens Østerholm Gøngehøvdingen, 1990 musical, played by Kim Harris Gøngehøvdingen, 1992 TV series, played by Søren Pilmark

Additional Orla Klausen produced the graphic novel series Gøngehøvdingen of five albums from 1989 to 1993, published by Interpresse. In 1998, Nils Hartmann published the children's book Gøngehøvdingen.

Under the brand name EUROPA the novels were adapted into children's audio plays starring famous danish actors such as Poul Reichhard, who also played the leads best friend in the motion picture Dronningens Vagtmester from 1963.

In 2006 Sweden's national television SVT and Filmlance produced a mini-series entitled Snapphanar which takes place in the same period, location and utilizing the same themes, but not featuring Svend Poulsen og any of the characters from the danish novels by Carit Etlar.