The buying and selling of ecclesiastical pardons and offices or benefices. In the literature of the 13c and 14c, there was much poetry written against both simony and avarice, particularly greed amongst the *clergy and friars. An anonymous poem The Simonie, also titled On the Evil Times ofEdward II, was written c. 1320. It is a satire aimed at the entire Church hierarchy from pope to local priest. [< Simon Magus, who in the 1c wanted to buy the power of transmitting the Holy Spirit.]
Dictionary of Medieval Terms and Phrases. Christopher Coredon with Ann Williams.