DRING. D7-engage was a feudal tenure said to be peculiar, or nearly so, to the northern counties. Sir Henry Ellis, in his Introduction to Domesda), says: — "The drenchs or drenghs were of the description of allodial tenants, and from the few entries in which they occur, it certainl.y appears that the allotments of territory which they possessed were held as manors." But there are proofs of drengage having lieen far from a free tenure, which both Spelman and Coke consider it ; for it appears from the Boldon Book that the services of the dvengli were to plough, sow, and harrow a portion of the bishop of Durham's land : to keep a dog and horse for the bishop's use, and a cart to convey his wine ; to attend the chase Avith dogs and ropes, and perform certain harvest works. Spelman says the dren were such as, being at the Conquest put out af their estate, were afterwards restored. In Lye's Saxon Diet, dreng is defined as " miles," vir fortis. See Notes and Queries, VII. p. 137-8. Halliwell gives a different definition ; he says " Brengcs, a class of men who held a rank between the baron and thayn. Jlca-elok.'" The ordinary interpretation would be Soldiers.

Lower, Mark A (1860) Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom. London: J.R. Smith. Public Domain.