A feudal tenement or holding of land; property held in bond or under servile conditions.
From 'bond' plus 'hold' (a possession or estate), both Germanic roots. The term emerges from English feudal property law describing conditional land tenure.
A bondhold was property with built-in limitations—you could work it and pass it to your children, but you could never truly own it free and clear; this legal constraint shaped entire communities for centuries.
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