time that the mines were lying idle and undeveloped through lack of capital and skilled workmen.  He used his opportunity therefore to obtain from Gustavus the lease of the rich mining domain of Finspong.  The lease was signed on October 12, 1619, and de Geer at once began operations on the largest scale.  He introduced from Liege a body of expert Walloon iron-workers, built forges and factories, and was in a few years able to supply the Swedish government with all the ordnance and munitions of war that they required, and to export through the port of Norrkoeping large supplies of goods to his warehouses at Amsterdam.  His relations with Gustavus Adolphus soon became intimate.  The king relied upon de Geer for the supply of all the necessaries for his armies in the field, and even commissioned him to raise troops for the Swedish service.  In 1626 the Dutch merchant was appointed by the king acting-manager of the copper mines, which were royal property; and, in order to regularise his position and give him greater facilities for the conduct of his enterprises, the rights of Swedish citizenship were conferred by royal patent upon him.  It was a curious position, for though de Geer paid many visits to Sweden, once for three consecutive years, 1626-29, he continued to make Amsterdam his home and principal residence.  He thus had a dual nationality.  Year after year saw an increasing number of mines and properties passing into the great financier’s hands, and in return for these concessions he made large advances to the king for his triumphant expedition into Germany; advancing him in 1628 50,000 rixdalers, and somewhat later a further sum of 32,000 rixdalers.  So confidential were the relations between them that Gustavus sent for de Geer to his camp at Kitzingen for a personal consultation on business matters in the spring of 1632.  It was their last interview, for before that year closed the Swedish hero was to perish at Luetzen.

The death of Gustavus made no difference to the position of Louis de Geer in Sweden, for he found Axel Oxenstierna a warm friend and powerful supporter.  Among other fresh enterprises was the formation of a Swedo-Dutch Company for trading on the West Coast of Africa.  In this company Oxenstierna himself invested money.  In reward for his many services the Swedish Council of Regency conferred upon de Geer and his heirs a patent of nobility (August 4,1641); and as part repayment of the large loans advanced by him to the Swedish treasury he obtained as his own the districts containing his mines and factories in different parts of Sweden, making him one of the largest landed proprietors in the country.  He on his part in return for this was able to show in a remarkable way that he was not ungrateful for the favours that he had received.