Zsigmond II Druget (? -1684) – sketches from the unknown life path

Abstract

On the occasion of the 700th anniversary of the Drugeth (of Italian origin) family’s arrival to Northeastern Hungary (in our case, to the Ung Сounty), a significant growth of interest is observed in the family as a whole as well as in some of its members who dominated the region for almost three centuries. This interest is not accidental, since the Drugeth family except the state-level dignitaries (palatines, royal judges, Transylvanian governors, commanders), enriched the history of the Hungarian kingdom with writers, poets, school founders, robber knights, and forgers. However, history often plays a strange game with its participants, since, while memories of some individuals are kept unchanged for dozens of succeeding generations, but for some others we have to assemble the "historical mosaic" depicting heroes of that time, practically from small fragments. In almost every scholarly work on the history of Northeastern Hungary (present-day Zakarpattia), special attention is paid to representatives of the Drugeth family, but biographical data of its individual members are rare. Scientific researches that began during the last decade at the Uzhhorod National University gave a serious “impetus for the intensification of “studies concerning the Drugeths” in the Ukrainian historiography”. The scientific work covers the life path and activity of a little-known representative of the Northeastern Hungarian nobility, statesman and writer Zsigmond Drugeth (? –1684). He has been paid little attention by the Hungarian historical science paid, although during his 27 years long life he graduated from university, participated in major historical events, and published 2 books. Unfortunately, Zsigmond Drugeth became a “victim” of the historical science. Science accepted the “mistake” of one of the historians as a historical fact, therefore the life path of Zsigmond Drugeth in most publications ends with a shameful execution on the scaffold. The aim of our scientific work is to show the real person who has left a powerful but still unknown mark in the history of Northeastern Hungary based on available resources.