In the 14th and 15th centuries more than a dozen tournament companies, societies or brotherhoods were formed, mostly in Germany. They allowed their members to support each other in sharing the very considerable trouble and expense of putting on tournaments.
In addition to the companies formed specifically to hold tournaments, there were a great variety of other aristocratic brotherhoods or confraternities, formed for mutual support, or some pious or chivalric purpose, or all three. All followed the model of a very popular medieval organization, the lay confraternity.
These confraternities, very popular from the 13th century on, were organizations of people joined together for some common purpose. As a rule, these confraternities were distinguished by statutes that specified regular meetings, the appointment of officers, and the admission of members. Most adopted a patron saint, with corporate celebration of the saint's feast day, and many adopted distinctive clothing, or badges or both. They were organized for a great variety of purposes, pious, social, and practical, from the Knights of the Garter to the local crafts guild.
The tournament companies and other chivalric confraternities shared these characteristics with the great princely orders like the Garter and the Golden Fleece. The princely orders, however, were often limited to a finite body of members, and were always under the control of the sovereign that founded them. The other knightly confraternities, however, elected their own officers, and depended purely on the resources of their members for support.
The requirements for membership in the chivalric confraternities were diverse. Most of the German societies required noble birth without reproach, and descent from four noble grandparents. Many required knighthood of their members. Others, such as the Order of the Croissant founded by Rene of Anjou, admitted squires. Indeed, that order determined its internal precedence only by seniority of membership, and not by any other rank. The Order of the Croissant was also unusual in that, although founded by a prince, the election of its head was entirely under the control of its membership, just as in the less exalted confraternities. A number of Orders admitted women, including the Order of St. Anthony in Hainault, and even, at times, the Garter.
Modern re-enactors interested in approaching, as closely as they can, an accurate recreation of the medieval tournament have also formed tournament companies on a similar model. Like their medieval prototypes, they allow the members to support each other in the common enterprise of recreating the medieval tournament.
For a listing of such companies, click here. For a more detailed discussion of medieval tournament companies, see Barber and Barker's Tournaments, pp 62-63, 188-190. Chivalric confraternities and secular orders are discussed in some detail in Keen's Chivalry, Chapter X. Here is a link to a Select bibliography on Medieval Tournaments