The Drugeths (or Drugets) originated from the
Kingdom of France. They belonged to the escort of
Charles I of Anjou, who conquered the
Kingdom of Sicily in 1266. In contemporary Italian records, they were referred to as "de Druget", "Rugeth", "Truget", "Drugetus" and "de Druetto", among others. 19th-century Hungarian historian József Hampel considered the Drugeths adopted their surname after a forename (Drugo, Druetto), and he assumed a relationship with the Merloto family of French origin due to the similarity of heraldic animals in their coats-of-arms. Based on the narration of the 16th-century poet
Johannes Bocatius, who mentioned the Drugeths' "
Salernitan roots", several historians, such as István Katona, Károly Wagner and genealogist Mór Wertner refused the theory of their French origin, but archivist István Miskolczy, who conducted research in the
State Archives of Naples, convincingly proved the early origin of the family in the 1930s. Serbian historian Đura Hardi also argued the Drugeths belonged to those Neapolitan elite of Ultramontane (French or
Provençal) origin, who arrived to Southern Italy with Charles of Anjou, because of their courtly positions which were exclusively held by non-Italian nobles during that time. The first known member of the family was Nicholas (Niccolò), who was among the courtiers of Charles I in 1267. He was styled as royal doorkeeper in 1267 and 1270. He escorted the king to
Rome around that time. His wife was Isabella, a scion of the de La Forêt family of French origin (her mother was Johanna, a lady-in-waiting in the court of Queen
Beatrice of Provence). Nicholas and Isabella were granted fiefdoms in
Melito di Napoli and
Pascarola near the Angevins' hunting estate,
Aversa on 5 October 1271. Nicholas served as castellan of the St. Erasmus Tower in
Capua from 1272 to 1279 and of
Nocera Inferiore from 1274 to 1276. In the latter place, Nicholas and Isabella were appointed guardians and tutors of the children of
Charles,
Prince of Salerno, the heir to the Neapolitan throne, and
Mary of Hungary. It is plausible that Nicholas and Isabella had no children. Nicholas was entitled as "
nobilis", "
dominus" and "
miles" in contemporary documents, reflecting his social status in the royal court. During the captivity of Charles II in 1285,
Robert of Artois acted as regent, who donated an estate in
Suessa to Nicholas. After Charles was freed from captivity and ascended the Neapolitan throne, he withdrew the donation, among others. A certain Guiot (Guy, Guido or Gicottus) was also a member of the Drugeth family, who was mentioned by sources between 1272 and 1277. He was a minor member of the royal court. His name appears in
Les Archives Angevines De Naples by French historian Paul Durrieu. According to József Hampel, he was a brother of Nicholas, but there is no record of that. John ("
Johannes de Trogect") was the younger brother of Nicholas, although Miskolczy identified him as his son, who died at a young age. John and his wife, Isabella from an unidentified family were first mentioned by a record in 1284, when they were granted four warehouses as a fiefdom in Naples. John was referred to as a royal valet. Both John and Isabella died by the middle of the 1290s. They had two sons,
John and
Philip and a daughter Matilda, who were all still minors at the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries, because their names appeared in
diminutive forms in a single document around 1300 ("
Joannoctus, Filippoctus et Matchtilda Drugetii"). Their uncle and aunt, Nicholas and Isabella adopted and took over the care of the children, who became their immediate heirs too. Nicholas served as Lord Steward for
Charles Martel's wife
Clemence from 1292 to 1295. Both died of the plague in Naples. In 1298, Nicholas was mentioned as tutor of the children of the late Charles Martel – i.e. Charles (the future King of Hungary),
Clementia and
Beatrice. Consequently, Nicholas' nephews John and Philip were raised together with Charles in the royal court, where they cherished their lifelong friendship and alliance. While John entered the service of Clementia (later
Queen consort of France for a short time), the younger brother Philip belonged to the escort of Charles, who would have been the lawful heir to his grandfather Charles II. However the king excluded the child Charles from succeeding the throne in the Kingdom of Naples. Instead of this, Charles was sent to Hungary in order to claim the throne in 1300, and the child Philip (who was of a similar age as the prince, who was born in 1288) escorted him to the kingdom. Nicholas died prior to 1299. His widow Isabella died around 1300. Matilda was mentioned by her last will and testament. Her guardian was Theobald de Fontenay, who raised her in the monastery of the fugitive
Cistercian nuns of
Constantinople in Naples. ;
Family tree •
N • Nicholas (, d. before 1299) ∞ Isabella de La Forêt (, d. around 1300) • (?) John () ∞ Isabella N () •
John () ∞ Pasqua de Bononensi () →
Hungarian branch •
Philip () ∞ Margaret N (, d. before 1351) • Clara (, d. before 1354) ∞
Ákos Mikcsfi (, d. before 1376) • Margaret () ∞ Nicholas II Felsőlendvai (), then Ákos Mikcsfi • Matilda () •
N (?) • Guiot () ==Notable members of the family==