Formally, modern Freemasonry began with the formation of the Grand Lodge of England in 1717. Informally, our beginnings are even older, dating back to Scotland and France. Some evidence seems to show the remnants of the Knights Templar integrated into and helped to shape what we’ve become, but it is inconclusive. Some of our legends refer to the building of King Solomon’s Temple, and some Masons speculate that our beginnings date back to the construction of the pyramids of ancient Egypt. We may never know.