Komitat Zips
More prominently, William took over the governance of those counties, which were belonged to the "office fiefs" of his late uncle. Consequently, he became "ispán" of Szepes, Abaúj (or Újvár), Borsod, Gömör, Heves and – plausibly – Torna counties since the second half of 1327, according to historian Pál Engel. In accordance with the "honor" system, numerous royal castles – which mostly secured his revenues – and its accessories were also assigned to William's province in Northeast Hungary ("pro honore" estates). William became castellan of the castles of Szepes (Spiš) in Szepes County, Füzér, Regéc, Gönc, Boldogkő, Jászó (Jasov), Somodi (Drienovec) in Abaúj County, Dédes and Diósgyőr in Borsod County and Szádvár in Torna County. William also took over his uncle's "honor"s outside the Drugeth Province; the castles of Fülek (Fiľakovo) in Nógrád County, Makovica (Zborov) and Szokoly (Sokoľ) in Sáros County. Regarding his inherited personal wealth and "office fiefs", the newcomer and young William Drugeth instantly elevated as one of the most powerful barons in the Kingdom of Hungary, despite his foreign origin and the lack of political and social antecedents. Meanwhile, his father John succeeded Philip as Palatine of Hungary, the most prestigious position in the royal court. After Philip's death, the arriving Drugeth kinship owed their rise and positions of power exclusively by the grace of the king, at that time they were not yet embedded to the native Hungarian nobility, which later became a source of many tensions. In the subsequent years, William gradually expanded his territorial province and private equity, simultaneously.