Did Freemasonry begin in London in 1717 and was a trendy dining club for the wealthy and philanthropic society?

False-the first grand lodge was founded in london in 1717 but this was hardly the beginning of masonry. many english-heritage masons wanted this to be seen as true however, but in reality it was only to distance itself from masonrys jacobite roots. it is a known fact that masonic lodges existed as far back as the 15th century and almost certainly as far back as the 14th or even 13th century. the origins however go back even further to a time before the roots had crystalised into a proper corpus. masonry was originally esoteric rather than philanthropic although under the grand lodge, after 1717, it became more of a mens club than a repository for fraternity and occulted wisdom.