Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Franco-Flemish School refers to a style of polyphonic vocal music and the composers who wrote it, originating from France and the Burgundian Netherlands in the 15th and 16th centuries. It is also called the Netherlandish School, Burgundian School, and several other names. Its composers mainly wrote sacred music, primarily masses, motets, and hymns.
The Franco-Flemish School produced the first true international musical style since the unification of Gregorian chant in the 9th century. After printing technology spread to music, their polyphonic technique circulated across Europe and was adopted by courts and churches from Italy and Spain to Poland and England.
Josquin des Prez is the most significant figure of the third generation, active from 1480 to 1520. Other major composers include Johannes Ockeghem, Guillaume Du Fay, Gilles Binchois, Antoine Brumel, and Orlando de Lasso. Du Fay and Binchois were praised by the poet Martin le Franc in 1442 for adopting the English style of Dunstaple.
Most were trained in ecclesiastical choir schools attached to cathedrals and collegiate churches in cities including Cambrai, Tournai, Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp, Liège, and Arras. Many were born in the Burgundian provinces of Artois, Flanders, Brabant, Hainaut, or Limburg.
Franco-Flemish motets composed between 1450 and 1520 were typically written for four equal voices, with thick, dark textures and an extended low range. Josquin des Prez's De profundis clamavi ad te, composed between 1500 and 1521, is a key example of the style.
Italian courts used the term "I fiamminghi" (the Flemings) or "Oltremontani" (those from over the Alps) because so many Franco-Flemish composers relocated to Italy to work. Their northern origins set them apart from local musicians, and their polyphonic technique was widely sought by Italian patrons.