Medieval military orders, like religious communities and other corporate bodies at any time and anywhere, constantly needed expert legal advice and assistance in the conduct of their affairs. Although individual members of the group surrendered their personal property upon entrance, the military orders, as collective entities, needed expert help to acquire, defend and dispose of the joint assets they held in common. By 1200 the aggregate assets of the Templars and Hospitallers had become very sizeable indeed and continued to grow in value through most of the thirteenth century, while the Teutonic Knights, although founded only at the very end of the twelfth century, amassed both wealth and power, not only in the Levant but in central and northern Europe as well. ¹