A historical feudal obligation requiring a tenant to provide wood or other materials for the lord's fire, or a payment made in lieu of this obligation.
From Old English, combining 'fire' and 'bote' (meaning compensation or remedy). Common in medieval land tenure systems.
Firebote shows how feudal systems controlled every aspect of peasant life—even something as basic as heating the lord's castle was regulated and required, with detailed rules about what materials could be given and when.
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