He was popularized under the name Gøngehøvdingen (English: the Gønge chieftain) in 1853, when his exploits were fictionalized under that name by Danish author Carit Etlar.

[3] After the cession of Scania and Halland at the Treaty of Roskilde of 1658, Svend Poulsen and his dragoons moved to Zealand, where they were ordered to disband.

[1] Poulsen led his dragoons once more at the outbreak of the 1658–1660 Dano-Swedish War, and integrated his company into the defence of Copenhagen.

On 22 August 1658 a decree ordered the peasants of Zealand to assist Poulsen in harassing the Swedish occupying forces.

He assembled a company of snaphane militia within the month of August,[3] though he lacked substantial support from the local populace.

[3] He rejoined the army of Christian V for the Scanian War from 1675 to 1679, and first served on Stevns, before he was promoted to the rank of major and commanded a dragoon company in Scania.

[1] In 1853, Danish author Carit Etlar published the novel Gjøngehøvdingen, a fictional account of Svend Poulsen's exploits as a snaphane during the 1658–1660 Dano-Swedish War.

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.