Freemasonry is ancient, having existed in some form for so long that many serious students have differed as to the time and place of its origin. There is evidence of a basic type of craft association which antedates the Christian era. It survived various transitions which took place during the middle ages. It was during this period that the word "Free" was prefixed to the word Mason, because these builders were one of the very few classes of persons allowed to travel from country to country and to practice the builder's art wheresoever they went. It was these companies of Masons who constructed the beautiful cathedrals and other stately structures which dot the plains of Europe and the English countryside. These men differed from the main from others of the working crafts because they, possessing knowledge and skills not found elsewhere, were free men rather than bond servants.
Until about the Sixteenth Century Masons were strictly an operative craft, bond together by the close ties found in the constructive craft guilds of the day. Early in the Seventeenth Century, men of prominence were admitted, not as craftsmen, for they were not skilled in the builder’s art, but rather as patrons. Gradually these men came to be known as "accepted" Masons. Thus, by the time the Seventh Century came to its end the accepted or speculative Masons were predominant in many of the older Lodges of Freemasons. Today the Masonic Lodge is termed speculative because its emphasis is on the moral philosophy which is its foundation, rather than the operative art of the Sixteenth and earlier centuries. The tools of the stonemason are used to symbolize moral virtues rather than to build cathedrals.
