the.com/fealty

Loyalty with a contract attached and a sword pointed at you.

means Sworn loyalty and obligation owed by a subordinate to a lord or ruler, formal rather than felt.

from From Old French feauté, descending from Latin fidelitatem ('faithfulness'), the same root that gives us 'fidelity.' In feudal law, fealty was the oath a vassal swore to his lord, often kneeling, hands clasped inside the lord's — loyalty literalized as a legal and physical posture, not just a feeling.

origin
from latin fidelitas, via feudal french
the deal
vassal swore it, lord granted land back
modern use
now just means suspiciously intense corporate loyalty
ceremony
literally kneeling, hands clasped, oath spoken aloud
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