A bailleur, a French term, is a land owner who outsourced uncultivated parcels of land as part of an early Middle Age

Middle age

Middle age is the period of age beyond young adulthood but before the onset of old age. Various attempts have been made to define this age, which is around the third quarter of the average life span of human beings....

 share cropping system known as complant — a precursor to the métayage

Metayage

The Metayage system is the cultivation of land for a proprietor by one who receives a proportion of the produce, as a kind of sharecropping.-Origin and function:...

 system. Under this system, a laborer known as a prendeur

Prendeur

A prendeur, a French term, is a labourer working as part of an early Middle Age share cropping system known as complant, a precursor to the métayage system. Under this system, the prendeur would cultivate land owned by a bailleur. In exchange for using the bailleur's soil, the prendeur promised a...

would agree to cultivate land owned by the bailleur in exchange for ownership of the crop and its production. For use of the bailleur's soil, the prendeur promised a share (normally a third to two-thirds) of the crop's production or its revenue to the bailleur. The length of this partnership varied and sometimes would extend over generations.