The Simonie, also known as Symonie and Couetise, is a Middle English poem on the evil times of the reign of King Edward II.
The poem survives in three versions, probably composed and modified over a century by anonymous authors.
The original poem, perhaps not exactly reproduced by any of the surviving texts, has been dated to 1321 by Thomas Wright (1839), to 1327 by J. Aberth (2000), and to 1322–30 by Dan Embree and Elizabeth Urquhart (1991).
Each version has unique inclusions and omissions; only 35 percent of the lines in A are shared by B and C. It was a "social protest" poem that arose in the aftermath of the Great Famine of 1315–1317.
It clearly targeted the negligences and vices of specific social groups, such as the clergy and nobility, within the context of the failures of the Great Famine and wars of the early 14th century.