Flemish is an adjective applied to part of the Low Countries that includes Flanders and Brabant. In the sixteenth century the region had strong traditions in art and commerce and was part of the Habsburg empire. The instrument making tradition founded in Louvain around 1530 was one of the most influential in Europe, through design and publication as well as instrument manufacture. A second centre in Antwerp produced work of a similar style and flourished in the later 16th century.
