Precursors of freemasonry are said to be the Knight Templars, but that is not unanimously accepted. In 1118 nine French knights have been allegedly sent to Jerusalem to King Baudouin II. They proposed to clear the pilgrim’s route to Jerusalem from pilferers and other undesirable elements. But this was obviously not the on end only goal of the knights. After they have been allotted a housing in exactly that wing of the palace, where the original temple of Salomon was located, they began there to dig. It did not transpire as yet, what they really did find. However, it can be taken as proofed, that from 1130 on, after their return, to an assiduous building activity set in, namely immediately from its onset already in the Gothic style, without any intermediary transition from the then generally used romanic style. Those gothic builders seem to have been specially trained in kinds of unions, called „Lodges“. 

After the uncommonly wealthy Order of the Knights Templar had been victimized to the greed of the pope and the french King Philipp the beautiful and been apparently totally exterminated, the lodges throughout the whole of Europe still held their own and kept on constructing gothic cathedrals. The builders societies in those lodges evolved symbols and merits and virtues which by and by have been adopted by the freemasons, as has the name of the meeting place ”Lodge” .

Hand in hand with the increasing building actvities and in due time the basic thought of hermetic interrelationships, which would describe the world and the universe as an interconnected whole (as above so below) and therefore recognizes the harmonic golden ratio as a decisive principle of nature and architecture. Consequently, as hermetic part of that harmonious construct of ideas the so called Alchimia came into being, whereby the person of the alchimist has been considered the target of the “chymical” (chemical or magic) influences. Soon , those influences were no longer considered to be targeted at a single person but rather at a group. This led to the appearance of secret societies whose mode of thinking expressed itself at first practically in the Queen of Sciences, the Archi – Tecture (Archi – Tecton, perhaps The Source of all Builders)and led further to organisation along principles of architecture of the secret societies – the lodges.

The first historical tangible association of already existing single lodges, called a Grand – Lodge, was recorded in London in 1717 and issued a Constitution, the so called „Old Plights“:

„The freemason is by his calling bound to obey the moral law and, if he rightly understands his art, will be neither a dumb atheist nor a libertine without religion. But although masons have been obliged in olden timest o be of the religion of the land or nation where they perform their work, nowadays it is thought advisable just to pledge them to this kind of religion, in which all humankind consents and leave all human beings to their individual belief. This means, they all should be trustworthy and veracious men, men of honour, men of righteousness and integrity, by whatever religious dogmata they may differ. By this means, freemasonry will become a pivot of the society a medium to create true friendship among persons, who otherwise would have been obliged to live in distance from each other." 

Although – as can be proofed historically – before 1723 also women could attain membership of the lodges, after 1723 only male persons were granted access. Times have changed. Nowadays also ladies are welcome in lodges, notwithstanding that still many old lodges still tolerate only male members.

The main body of the merits and values of freemasonry originates from the times of enlightment. The basic pillars of masonic work are Freedom, equality and fraternity (sorority).

Masonic work commences – like that of the alchimists – initially at the own person, to create an independently thinking and responsible individuum.

It is expected, that self – refinement as a natural consequence, consequently breeds a natural confraternity of all those, whose aim self - refinement would be.