did the master mason degree exist in 1717 or did it come later

The Master Mason degree did not exist as a separate ceremonial step in 1717; it was developed in the years that followed 123.

At the founding of the premier Grand Lodge in London in 1717, there was only one form of initiation 12. Before the eighteenth century, old lodge records show no separate secret ceremony for making a Master Mason; the title designated a trade status or rank rather than a distinct degree 3. The terms Fellow Craft and Master Mason were used interchangeably, even appearing as synonymous titles in James Anderson's 1723 Book of Constitutions 4.

The division of the Craft into three distinct degrees grew up gradually between 1717 and 1730 14. The earliest written record of the conferral of the Master Mason degree dates to 1725, a paper read before Quatuor Coronati Lodge notes. The new degree spread slowly, reaching Scottish lodges in the late 1730s and not becoming common practice there until the 1760s 2.

Masonic historians generally agree on this evolution, though they differ on its details. Findel and Mackey view the third degree as an eighteenth-century speculative creation, with George Oliver attributing its fabrication to Jean Theophilus Desaguliers and James Anderson 12. Conversely, A. F. A. Woodford argued that a tri-gradal system existed prior to 1717, though scholars such as Hughan, Lyon, and Gould reject this view, pointing out that ancient lodge minutes contain no trace of separate degree ceremonials 3.

Robert Freke Gould dates the incorporation of the legend of Hiram's death and the introduction of the Master Mason degree to between 1723 and 1729, leaning toward 1725 as the most likely year, as noted in an article on the Freemasonry Forfarshire website.

James Anderson's 1723 Constitutions recognized two Masonic ranks or stages rather than three explicit degree ceremonies, employing the titles of Apprentice, Fellow-Craft, and Master or Master of a Lodge, as an article on 1723constitutions.com notes. Within the Charges, a brother in the Craft could not serve as a Warden until he had passed the part of a Fellow-Craft, nor could he become Master without having acted as a Warden, or Grand Master without having been a Fellow-Craft prior to his election, as recorded on the same site.

Throughout the text of the 1723 Constitutions, the terms "master" and "fellow craft" were used interchangeably to denote the same status, with the title of "Master" referring primarily to the presiding officer of a lodge rather than a distinct third degree 4. At this stage in Craft Masonry, the Grand Lodge divided the fraternity into Entered Apprentices and Fellowcrafts, while prohibiting private lodges from working the "Master's Part" 5.

The introduction and adoption of the Master Mason degree occurred significantly later in Scotland than in England 42. While the Third Degree and its accompanying Hiramic legend were introduced into English Masonry following the establishment of the Premier Grand Lodge in 1717 46, Scottish lodges maintained a simpler two-degree system consisting only of Apprentice and Fellow Craft throughout the seventeenth century and well into the eighteenth 462.

In England, the division into three separate degree ceremonies was established between 1717 and 1730 46, with historical records showing the degree being conferred as early as 1725, as a paper read before Quatuor Coronati Lodge notes. By contrast, the Hiramic legend was unknown in seventeenth-century Scottish Masonry 4. The Third Degree was gradually imported into Scotland from England after 1723, but its spread was slow 42.

The earliest Scottish minute mentioning the step appears in the records of the Lodge of Kilwinning in June 1736, enactments providing that qualified craftsmen be "ras'd to ye dignity of Master" 2. Nevertheless, several lodges—such as Atcheson's Haven, Dunblane, Haughfoot, and Peebles—remained unacquainted with the degree as late as 1760 2. The Master Mason degree did not become common practice in Scottish lodges until after 1770 42. Additionally, in Scottish practice, candidates historically could receive all three Craft degrees in a single day, a procedure that was not uncommon for notable personages, according to a paper read before Quatuor Coronati Lodge.