ærmaband (OSw) noun

Literally, ‘armband’. Outside the legal texts, this referred to an item of jewellery, a bracelet or arm-ring. From the contexts in which it is used in VmL, it seems that it could also refer to a minor form of restraint, handcuffs held in front of the body, rather than a humiliating form of capture, bastaþer ok bundin (see basta), where the hands were behind the back. In VmL the penalty for allowing a thief to escape from ærmaband was only three marks, but if he had been bastaþer ok bundin and escaped, the penalty was 40 marks. This implies that the latter was considerably more restrictive than the former.

handcuffs OSw VmL Mb Refs:

Schlyter 1877, s.v. ærmaband; SL VmL, 101 note 164a