<P> From this changing society emerged a common, unifying musical language, in particular the polyphonic style of the Franco - Flemish school . The development of printing made distribution of music possible on a wide scale . Demand for music as entertainment and as an activity for educated amateurs increased with the emergence of a bourgeois class . Dissemination of chansons, motets, and masses throughout Europe coincided with the unification of polyphonic practice into the fluid style that culminated in the second half of the sixteenth century in the work of composers such as Palestrina, Lassus, Victoria and William Byrd . </P> <P> The new ideals of humanism, although more secular in some aspects, developed against a Christian backdrop, especially in the Northern Renaissance . Much, if not most, of the new art was commissioned by or in dedication to the Church . However, the Renaissance had a profound effect on contemporary theology, particularly in the way people perceived the relationship between man and God . Many of the period's foremost theologians were followers of the humanist method, including Erasmus, Zwingli, Thomas More, Martin Luther, and John Calvin . </P> <P> The Renaissance began in times of religious turmoil . The late Middle Ages was a period of political intrigue surrounding the Papacy, culminating in the Western Schism, in which three men simultaneously claimed to be true Bishop of Rome . While the schism was resolved by the Council of Constance (1414), a resulting reform movement known as Conciliarism sought to limit the power of the pope . Although the papacy eventually emerged supreme in ecclesiastical matters by the Fifth Council of the Lateran (1511), it was dogged by continued accusations of corruption, most famously in the person of Pope Alexander VI, who was accused variously of simony, nepotism and fathering four children (most of whom were married off, presumably for the consolidation of power) while a cardinal . </P> <P> Churchmen such as Erasmus and Luther proposed reform to the Church, often based on humanist textual criticism of the New Testament . In October 1517 Luther published the 95 Theses, challenging papal authority and criticizing its perceived corruption, particularly with regard to instances of sold indulgences . The 95 Theses led to the Reformation, a break with the Roman Catholic Church that previously claimed hegemony in Western Europe . Humanism and the Renaissance therefore played a direct role in sparking the Reformation, as well as in many other contemporaneous religious debates and conflicts . </P>

What are the main features of the renaissance era