SEARCH RECORDS
SEARCH MSS
PRINTED BOOKS
INSCRIPTIONS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
GLOSSARY
DIMEV HOME
The Digital Index of Middle English Verse
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
DIMEV 3363
IMEV 2066.5
NIMEV 2066.5
Man in what state that ever thou be
‘Timor Mortis’ macaronic epitaph of late xv and early xvi century — one quatrain (aaba)
Note: Cf. the burden to 633.
Subjects: epitaphs; death, fear of; inscriptions
Versification: — four-line — aaba
Macaronic: Latin


Inscriptions:
1.Source: Northleach, Gloucestershire, Church of Saints Peter and Paul tomb of William Lawnder, vicar of Northleach (d. 1530), on floor at base of south wall of chancel, before communion rail, in brass border
Transcription:
…state that euer thow be
Timor mortis shulde truble the
For when thow leest Wenyst
veniet te mors superare
…so thy grave grevys
Ergo Mortis memorare.
Editions:
Bouquet, Alan Coates. Church Brasses, British and Continental. London: Batsford, 1956: 195.
Gray, Douglas. “In Whatever Estate So Ever I Be….” Notes and Queries n.s. 7 [205] (1960): 403-4.
2.Source: Witney, Oxfordshire, church, epitaph on the tomb of Richard Waynman
Transcription:
Man in what state that ever thou be
Timor Mortis should trouble thee,
For when thou least wenyst
Veniet te Mors superare
Note: Transcription from Brabant (1906), cited in Greene (1935).
Editions:
Brabant, Frederick Gaspard. Oxfordshire. London: Methuen, 1906; repr. 1919: 257.
Greene, Richard Leighton. The Early English Carols. Oxford: Clarendon, 1935; 2nd ed., rev., Oxford: Clarendon, 1977: 424; 1977, 442.
Greene, Richard Leighton, ed. A Selection of English Carols. Clarendon Medieval and Tudor Series. Oxford: Clarendon, 1962: 237.
3.Source: Luton, Bedfordshire, church, Acworth brass (1513)
Transcription:
Man in what state that ever thow be
Timor mortis shulde trowble the
For when thow leest wenyst
veniet te mors superare
And so thy graue grevys
ergo mortis memoraris
Editions:
Ravenshaw, Thomas Fitz-Arthur Torin. Ancient Epitaphes from A.D. 1250 to A.D. 1800. London: Masters, 1878: 17.
Hobbs, T. G. “Luton Parish Church.” Journal of the British Archaeological Association n.s. 30 (1924): 178.
Gray, Douglas. “In Whatever Estate So Ever I Be….” Notes and Queries n.s. 7 [205] (1960): 403-4.
4.Source: Great Tew, Oxfordshire, church, Brass epitaph for William Bosby (1513)
Transcription:
man in what state that ever thow be
T…
…mors superare,
and so thy greve…
Note: Transcription from Gray (1960), reproducing Haines’ 1816 transcription of the surviving fragments.
Editions:
Haines, Herbert. A Manual for the Study of Monumental Brasses. Oxford: Published for the Architectural Society and sold by Parker, 1848: 129.
Gray, Douglas. “In Whatever Estate So Ever I Be….” Notes and Queries n.s. 7 [205] (1960): 403-4.