Broad term for a man bound to a lord through the various degrees of villeinage, owing a variety of services for his tenure of land. *Bracton defines him as 'either born or made such. They are born of a *villein and a *naif'. Bracton also says a bondsman 'is procreated of an unmarried naif though of a free father, for he follows the condition of his mother' married or unmarried, whether they are under the *potestas of a lord or outside it.
Dictionary of Medieval Terms and Phrases. Christopher Coredon with Ann Williams.