Digital Index of Middle English Verse: No. 5265

DIMEV 5265

IMEV 3339

NIMEV 3339

The fiend our foe ne may us dere

Verses urging us to resist the devil and he will flee from you (4 lines), a tag in the Fasciculus morum, translating Hostis non ledit…, the verse equivalent of the preceding prose illustration — two couplets

Subjects: Satan; devil; sermons, verse in; translations

Versification: — two-line — aa

Manuscript Witnesses:

1.Source: Oxford, Bodleian Library Laud misc. 213 (SC 1045), f. 2v

Transcription:

The fende oure foo may not vs dere
Bot we boghen to hym for fere
He ys a lyoun but þu with stonde
Not worth a flye yf þu ne wonde

Note: Written as prose.

Editions:

Gray, Douglas, ed. A Selection of Religious Lyrics. Clarendon Medieval and Tudor Series. Oxford: Clarendon, 1975: no.77b.

2.Source: Oxford, Bodleian Library Laud misc. 111 (SC 1550), ff. 50v-51

Transcription:

The fende oure fo ne may vs dere
bot ȝif we bowen to hym for fere
he is a lyon bot þu wiht stonde
And ferde as flyȝe yf þou ne wounde

3.Source: Oxford, Bodleian Library Bodley 410 (SC 2305), f. 2

Transcription:

The feend our foo may not vs dere
But if we bowe to hym for fere
He is a lyoun but þu withstonde
Nowght worth a flye if þu ne wonde

Note: Written as prose.

4.Source: Oxford, Bodleian Library Rawlinson C.670 (SC 12514), f. 8v

Transcription:

Þe fende oure foe ne may vs dere
But ȝyffe we bowen hym for fere
He is a lyon bote þou withstond
And ferde as a flye ȝyf þou ne wonde

Note: Written as prose.

Editions:

Wenzel, Siegfried. Verses in Sermons: ‘Fasciculus morum’ and Its Middle English Poems. Cambridge, MA: Medieval Academy of America, 1978: 136.

5.Source: Oxford, Lincoln College Lat. 52, ff. 2rb-2va

Transcription:

Þe feend oure foo ne may vs dere
bot if we bowen to hym for fere
He is a lion but þou withstonde
and ferd as fly yf þou ne wonde

6.Source: Cambridge UK, Gonville & Caius College 364/619, f. 2va

Transcription:

Þe fend oure foo ne may us dere
but if we bowen to hym for fere
he is a leon but þou wytstonde
and ferd as flye if þou ne wonde

7.Source: Cambridge UK, St John’s College F.22 (159), f. 35v

Transcription:

þe fend owr foo ne may vs deyre
Bot yf we bow to hym for fere
he ys a lyo [sic] bot yf þu wytstant
and ferd as fle yf þu ne wonde

Note: Written as prose.

8.Source: Durham, Durham University Library Cosin V.iv.2, f. 2

Transcription:

The fend owr fo may vs naght dere
Bott ȝif we bowen hym for fere
he is a lyon bot ȝow wyth stonde
And ferd as flee ȝif þu with stonde

9.Source: Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Library 82, f. 6

Transcription:

The fende oure foo ne may vs dere
but yf we bowen to hym for fere
he is a lyon but þu wythstond
And ferd as a flyȝe yf þu ne wond

10.Source: Lincoln, Lincoln Cathedral Library 44 (A.2.13), ff. 156vb-157ra

Transcription:

þe fend oure foo ne may vs dere
Bot ȝif we bow hem for fere
he is a lyoon bot ȝe withestonde
And ferd als flye ȝif ȝe ne wonde

11.Source: Spalding, Lincolnshire, Spalding Gentlemen’s Society M.J.B.14 [olim Maurice Johnson No. LIV], f. 3

Transcription:

The fende oure foe ne may vs dere
bot if we bowe to hym for fere
he is a lyone bot if we wythstonde
And ferd als a fly & cetera

Note: Written as prose.