The Drougoubitai, also Drogobitai or Dragobitai (), variously anglicized as Drugubites, Drogubites, Druguvites, Draguvites etc., were a South Slavic group (''

Sclaveni The ' (in Latin language, Latin) or ' (Sclaveni#Terminology, various forms in Greek language, Greek) were Early Slavs, early Slavic tribes that raided, invaded and settled in the Balkans in the Early Middle Ages and eventually became one of the p ...

'') who settled in the

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

in the 7th century. Two distinct branches are mentioned in the sources, one living in medieval

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

to the north and east of

Thessalonica Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area) and the capital city, capital of the geographic reg ...

and around

Veroia Veria (; ), officially transliterated Veroia, historically also spelled Beroea or Berea, is a city in Central Macedonia, in the geographic region of Macedonia, northern Greece, capital of the regional unit of Imathia. It is located north-nort ...

(in modern

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

Etymology

As in the historical sources the ethnonym is mentioned differently, some scholars consider that Droguvites in Macedonia and Draguvites in Thrace are two different tribes, but the difference is probably due to Greek mispronunciation of Slavic "ъ" (as "ο", "ου" or "α"). It is considered to derive from "*Drъgъvitji" (from

Proto-Slavic Proto-Slavic (abbreviated PSl., PS.; also called Common Slavic or Common Slavonic) is the unattested, reconstructed proto-language of all Slavic languages. It represents Slavic speech approximately from the 2nd millennium BC through the 6th ...

word "*drъgъva", 'swamp'), and to be "undoubtedly" related to the East Slavic tribe of

Dregoviches The Dregoviches, also called the ''Dregovichi'', were an East Slavic tribal union. They inhabited the territories along the lower Pripyat River and the northern parts of the right bank of the Dnieper River The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), a ...

or originating from the same area of

Pripyat Marshes __NOTOC__ The Pripet Marshes or Pripyat Marshes (), also known as Pinsk Marshes (), the Polesie Marshes, and the Rokitno Marshes, are a vast natural region of wetlands in Polesia, along the forested basin of the Pripyat River and its tributaries f ...

History

The 7th-century ''

Miracles of Saint Demetrius The ''Miracles of Saint Demetrius'' () is a 7th-century collection of homilies, written in Greek, accounting the miracles performed by the patron saint of Thessalonica, Saint Demetrius. It is a unique work for the history of the city and the Balka ...

'', which chronicle the Slavic invasions and settlement in the

, list the first branch of the Drougoubitai along with four other

tribes living in the vicinity of

. According to the ''Miracles'', they were led by kings, and were tributary allies to the Byzantines.Kazhdan (1991), p. 662 The ''Miracles'' also record their participation in two unsuccessful attacks by Sclaveni coalitions on Thessalonica, in 617/618 and

677 __NOTOC__ Year 677 ( DCLXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 677 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Euro ...

. By 879, a bishopric of Drougoubiteia (Δρουγουβιτεία),

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led ...

to the

Metropolis of Thessalonica The Metropolis of Thessaloniki () is a Greek Orthodox metropolitan see based in the city of Thessaloniki in Central Macedonia, Greece. It is part of the so-called "New Lands", belonging to the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constan ...

, had been established.

Nicolas Oikonomides Nikolaos or Nikos Oikonomides (, 14 February 1934 – 31 May 2000) was a Greeks, Greek Byzantinist, and one of the leading experts in the field of Byzantine aristocracy and bureaucracy, Byzantine administration. Biography Oikonomides was born i ...

has suggested that at about the same time, the tribe was placed under a Byzantine military governor with the title of ''

strategos ''Strategos'' (), also known by its Linguistic Latinisation, Latinized form ''strategus'', is a Greek language, Greek term to mean 'military General officer, general'. In the Hellenistic world and in the Byzantine Empire, the term was also use ...

''. In the late 10th and 11th centuries, Drougoubiteia is attested as being united with the themes of

and Strymon into a single province.Kazhdan (1991), p. 663 In the early 10th century,

John Kaminiates John Kaminiates (, fl. tenth century) was a Greek resident of Thessalonica when the city, then one of the largest in the Byzantine Empire, was besieged and sacked by a Saracen force led by Leo of Tripoli in 904. His account of the city's plunder, ...

speaks of the Drougoubitai as living around

, while in the 13th century,

Demetrios Chomatenos Demetrios Chomatenos or Chomatianos (, 13th century), Eastern Orthodox Archbishop of Ohrid from 1216 to 1236, was a Byzantine priest and judge. His comprehensive legal education allowed him to exert substantial influence as judge, arbiter, confe ...

mentions them as "ruling" all the land from Veroia up to

Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...

.Nesbitt & Oikonomides (1991), p. 84

References

Sources

* * * * * {{Slavic ethnic groups (VII-XII century) Byzantine Greece Medieval Macedonia Slavic tribes in Macedonia Slavic tribes in Thrace and Moesia Sclaveni

Etymology

History

See also

References

Sources