Were the Knights Templar Free Masons ?, the simple answer is no because it was not around at that time, historians again get it wrong when they state that the Templars had Lodges. the earliest known Lodge in Scotland is is St.Mary's NoI Chapel dated as 1599 this is what the minutes taken state, this is 29 years after the Scottish Reformation of 1560.
Chevalier Ramsay on his trip to Paris stated to the people present that the Knights of St.John turned Masonic and not the Templars, Ramsay was the Tutor to Bonnie Prince Charlie, historians again try to state that Charlie was a Free Mason but Charlie was a Roman Catholic so could not have been a Mason.
The Masons during the 13th and 14th centuries were of course Stone Masons and so after a days hard work these men needed somewhere to gather, Robert the Bruce is said to have created a Lodge when the Stone Masons were working on St.Andrews Abbey, here they would probably have talked about what they had done that day, or, talk of a problem they came across and probably found the cure in the Lodge from other Stone Masons.
So there we have it the Templars were never ever Masons they were only soldiers and nothing less, historians please get your facts right in future.
One point of note is, why do the Free Masons have Knights Templar in their ranks when as stated above the Templars were never Free Masons, the Free Mason Templars are not Chivalric, however our Knights of Our Order are Chivalric.