 By 879, a bishopric of Drougoubiteia (Δρουγουβιτεία), suffragan to the Metropolis of Thessalonica, had been established.Nicolas Oikonomides has suggested that at about the same time, the tribe was placed under a Byzantine military governor with the title of "strategos".In the late 10th and 11th centuries, Drougoubiteia is attested as being united with the themes of Thessalonica and Strymon into a single province.