bond

in general, a written obligation to pay or perform something; a bond of corroboration is an additional confirmation by a debtor of his original debt (for example to the ancestor of the obligor); a bond of caution is an obligation by one person to act as security or surety for another; a bond of relief is an undertaking to relieve such a cautioner from his obligation; a bond of disposition in security was the commonest form of heritable security in the 19th century, combining a personal bond by the borrower with a disposition of the lands on which the sum was secured.  Most unusual was the bond of manrent, an obligation by a free person to become the follower of someone who could protect him, who would in turn, undertake to support and maintain him.