Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden and the English press: News, foreign policy and popular opinion in early Stuart England

This study investigates the role of printed news in the formation of popular attitudes about foreign policy in early Stuart England. In 1630, many Englishmen questioned England's role in international affairs after Charles I made peace with Spain, completing England's withdrawal from the Thirty Years' War. In the next two years, King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden became tremendously popular in England because of his surprisingly successful campaign in Germany against the Emperor and Spain. Gustavus's English admirers read about the Swedish king's victories and followed his every move in cheap, printed "newsbooks," the earliest English news publications available to a broad audience. With their exaggerated accounts of Gustavus's heroic exploits, the newsbooks fueled the king of Sweden's popularity and encouraged popular discussion of England's foreign policy. Proof is found in the fact that Charles prohibited the printing of English newsbooks entirely in October 1632 after failing to form an alliance with Gustavus. When Gustavus died heroically in battle two months later, the outpouring of popular feeling in England for this foreign prince---expressed in poetry, prose and print---was unprecedented.; In the 1630s, Englishmen made their feelings known about Gustavus in letters, sermons, political treatises, diaries and poems. These sources display a variety of views, from admiration for Gustavus and frustration that England was not taking a more active role in the Thirty Years' War, to praise for Charles for keeping England isolated and at peace. Although Charles's foreign policy failure may not have had much influence on English politics at the time, the news of Gustavus's success caused Englishmen to question the actions of their own king and deeply influenced a generation that would later wield great power. To Oliver Cromwell and many others, Gustavus would forever be "that invincible and incomparable king," who sacrificed his kingdom, honors and life in the service of the Gospel.