What are the different degrees in Freemasonry?

The primary system of Craft Masonry consists of three degrees: Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason 123. In the early eighteenth century, the fraternity operated under a single form of initiation; the division into three symbolic degrees developed gradually between 1717 and 1730 1. The Entered Apprentice degree represents youth and foundational learning, the Fellow Craft emblematic of manhood and educational pursuit, and the Master Mason degree representing the maturity of age and full spiritual instruction 2. While Fellow Crafts historically constituted the main body of the fraternity and held voting rights, full legislative rights and membership privileges in modern Craft lodges belong exclusively to Master Masons 13.

Beyond the Craft system, various Masonic rites and orders confer higher or additional degrees. In the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, degrees extend beyond the Craft up to numbered ranks such as the Sixteenth Degree (Princes of Jerusalem) and Thirty-First Degree (Grand Inspector Inquisitor Commander) 1. Historically, other specialized bodies developed chivalric degrees incorporated from medieval orders of knighthood—such as the Knights Templar and Knights of Malta—as well as philosophical systems like Fessler's five Degrees of Knowledge 1. Continental systems and rites of adoption introduced further variations, including multi-graded structures such as the Swedish system's degrees of Saint Andrew and various Hermetic or adoptive apprentice grades 1.