follow Dictionary.com
"A Candidatus Theoligiae, your Majesty," answered a handfast threadbare youth one day, when questioned in this manner.
The issue of “handfast” marriages in Scotland were eligible to be chiefs, and even sometimes claimed under feudal law.
"betroth, bind in wedlock," mid-12c., from Old English handfæsten, from hand (n.) + fast (see fasten). Related: Handfasted; handfasting.