To find the origin of the Masons, we must move north to the city of Venice, according to my reading of history.
In 1192 it seemed as if the Crusades by the European knights to the Middle-East had come to an end when Richard 1"The Lion Heart" negotiated a treaty with Saladin that permitted European pilgrams access to holy shines. But six years later in 1198 Pope Innocent III called for the Fourth Crusade, to strike against Egypt. But the crusader army was unable to pay for ships and outfitting obtained from Venice and so agreed to assist the Venetians in capturing the city of Zora, in Hungary (now Zador, Croatia) and then Constantinople (now Istanbul).
Earlier in that century (1120) the Knights Templar had been foundered, by Hugh of Pajens to protect Europe's conquests in the Middle-East. They were a mercenary type force that professed to having nobler intentions, but with accumulating wealth they degenerated, so the charges against them stated, into blasphemy and heresy. It was said that initiation into the order called for stamping and spitting on the cross and proclaiming "I renounce Jesus". The Templars used stonemasons for the construction of fortifications both in the near East and Europe.
It seems very likely that there were Templar Knights in Venice when Marco Polo returned from his trip to China in 1295. Polo Brought back many items of interest that revealed aspects of life in the Far East. One of these items, according to my reading of history, was a text that was given to the Knights Templar and kept as a secret text (secret within Europe). In 1298 Marco Polo brought out a book describing his travels. His book seems to parallel another book in certain respects, and so indicates what the secret text was. It was Sun Tzu's The Art of War.