Defenestrations of Prague The Defenestrations of Prague ( , ) were two incidents in the history of Bohemia ; there have been more , see below . The first occurred in 1419 and the second in 1618 , although the term " Defenestration of Prague " more commonly refers to the latter incident . Both helped to trigger prolonged conflict within Bohemia and beyond . Defenestration is the act of throwing someone or something out of a window . First Defenestration of Prague . The First Defenestration of Prague involved the killing of seven members of the city council by a crowd of radical Czech Hussites on 30 July 1419 . Jan Želivský , a Hussite priest at the church of the Virgin Mary of the Snows , led his congregation on a procession through the streets of Prague to the New Town Hall ( Novoměstská radnice ) on Charles Square . The town council members had refused to exchange their Hussite prisoners . While they were marching , a stone was thrown at Želivský from the window of the town hall . This enraged the mob and they stormed the town hall . Once inside the hall , the group threw the judge , the burgomaster , and some thirteen members of the town council out of the window and into the street , where they were killed by the fall or dispatched by the mob . King Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia , upon hearing this news , was stunned and he died shortly after , supposedly due to the shock . The procession was a result of the growing discontent at the contemporary direction of the Church and the inequality between the peasants and the Church ' s prelates , and the nobility . This discontentment combined with rising feelings of nationalism and increased the influence of radical preachers such as Jan Želivský , influenced by Wycliff , who saw the current state of the Catholic Church as corrupt . These preachers urged their congregations to action , including taking up arms , to combat these perceived transgressions . The First Defenestration was thus the turning point between talk and action leading to the prolonged Hussite Wars . The wars broke out shortly afterward and lasted until 1436 . Second Defenestration of Prague . The Second Defenestration of Prague precipitated the Thirty Years ' War . Background . In 1555 , the Peace of Augsburg had settled religious disputes in the Holy Roman Empire by enshrining the principle of " Cuius regio , eius religio " , allowing a prince to determine the religion of his subjects . The Kingdom of Bohemia since 1526 had been governed by Habsburg Kings , who did not , however , force their Catholic religion on their largely Protestant subjects . In 1609 , Rudolf II , Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia ( 1576 – 1612 ) , increased Protestant rights . He was increasingly viewed as unfit to govern , and other members of the Habsburg dynasty declared his younger brother , Matthias , to be family head in 1606 . Matthias began to gradually wrest territory from Rudolf , beginning with Hungary . In order to strengthen his hold on Bohemia , Rudolf in 1609 issued the " Letter of Majesty " , which granted Bohemia ' s largely Protestant estates the right to freely exercise their religion , essentially setting up a Protestant Bohemian state church controlled by the estates , " dominated by the towns and rural nobility " . Upon Rudolf ' s death , Matthias succeeded in the rule of Bohemia ( 1612 – 1619 ) and extended his offer of more legal and religious concessions to Bohemia , relying mostly on the advice of his chancellor , Bishop Melchior Khlesl . However , conflict was precipitated by two factors : Matthias , already aging and without children , made his cousin Ferdinand of Styria his heir and had him elected king in 1617 . Ferdinand , however , was a proponent of the Catholic counterreformation and not likely to be well - disposed to Protestantism or Bohemian freedoms . Bohemian Protestants opposed the royal government as they interpreted Letter of Majesty to extend not only to the land controlled by the nobility or self - governing towns but also to the King ' s own lands . Whereas Matthias and Khlesl were prepared to appease these demands , Ferdinand was not , and in 1618 forced the Emperor to order the cessation of construction of some Protestant chapels on royal land . When the Bohemian estates protested against this order , Ferdinand had their assembly dissolved . The Defenestration . On May 23 , 1618 , four Catholic Lords Regent , namely Count Jaroslav Borzita z Martinic , Count Vilem Slavata of Chlum , Adam II von Sternberg ( who was the supreme burgrave ) , and Matthew Leopold Popel Lobcowitz ( who was the grand prior ) , arrived at the Bohemian Chancellory at 8 : 30am . After preparing the meeting hall , members of the dissolved assembly of the three main Protestant estates gathered at 9 : 00am , led by Count Thurn , who had been deprived of his post as Castellan of Karlstadt by the Emperor . The Protestant Lords ' agenda was to clarify whether or not the four regents present were responsible for persuading King Matthias to order the cessation of churches on royal land . According to Martiniz himself : " Lord Paul Rziczan read aloud . . . a letter with the following approximate content : His Imperial Majesty had sent to their graces the lord regents a sharp letter that was , by our request , issued to us as a copy after the original had been read aloud , and in which His Majesty declared all of our lives and honour already forfeit , thereby greatly frightening all three Protestant estates . As they also absolutely intended to proceed with the execution against us , we came to a unanimous agreement among ourselves that , regardless of any loss of life and limb , honour and property , we would stand firm , with all for one and one for all . . . nor would we be subservient , but rather we would loyally help and protect each other to the utmost , against all difficulties . Because , however , it is clear that such a letter came about through the advice of some of our religious enemies , we wish to know , and hereby ask the lord regents present , if all or some of them knew of the letter , recommended it , and approved of it . " Before the regents gave any answer , they requested that the Protestants give them the opportunity to confer with their superior , Adam von Waldstein , who was not present . If they were given the opportunity , the Protestants would get an official answer to their grievance by the next Friday ( seeing as this was all taking place on the eve of Ascension Day and they all must observe the holy day ) . The Protestants demanded an immediate answer . The first two , Adam von Sternberg and Matthew Leopold Popel Lobcowitz , were decided innocent by the Protestant Estate holders and too pious to have any responsibility in the letter ' s creation . They in turn were removed from the room ; however , before leaving , the supreme burgrave ( Adam II von Sternberg ) made it clear that they " " did not advise anything that was contrary to the Letter of Majesty " " . This left only Count Vilem Slavata of Chlum , Count Jaroslav Borzita of Martinice ( who had replaced Thurn as Castellan ) , known Catholic hard - liners , and Philip Fabricius the secretary to the Regents . They eventually claimed responsibility for the letter and , assuming they were only going to be arrested , welcomed any punishment the Protestants had planned . The Lord Count von Thurn turned to both Martiniz and Slavata and said " " you are enemies of us and of our religion , have desired to deprive us of our Letter of Majesty , have horribly plagued your Protestant subjects . . . and have tried to force them to adopt your religion against their wills or have had them expelled for this reason " " . Then to the crowd of Protestants , he continued " " were we to keep these men alive , then we would lose the Letter of Majesty and our religion . . . for there can be no justice to be gained from or by them " " . Soon after , the Regents were thrown out of the third floor window along with the Regents ' secretary , Philipus Fabricius but survived after falling . Catholics maintain the men were saved by angels , who caught them ; Protestants believe they fell into a heap of horse manure . Philip Fabricius was later ennobled by the emperor and granted the title " Baron von Hohenfall " ( literally " Baron of Highfall " ) . Later Protestant pamphleteers asserted that they survived due to falling onto a dung heap , a story unknown to contemporaries and probably coined in response to the Imperial officials attributing their survival to the intercession of the Virgin Mary . Aftermath . After the death of Matthias in 1619 , Ferdinand II was elected Holy Roman Emperor . At the same time , the Bohemian estates deposed him as King of Bohemia and replaced him with Frederick V , Elector Palatine , a leading Calvinist and son - in - law of James I , King of England . Ferdinand , who did not accept this , reconquered Bohemia with the assistance of Bavaria in 1620 , executed the rebel leaders , confiscated their estates and outlawed Protestantism in Bohemia . Further defenestrations . More events of defenestration have occurred in Prague during its history , but they are not usually called " defenestrations of Prague " . A defenestration ( chronologically the second defenestration of Prague , sometimes called " one - and - halfth defenestration " ) happened on 24 September 1483 , when a violent overthrow of the municipal governments of the Old and New Towns ended with throwing the Old - Town portreeve and the bodies of seven killed aldermen out of the windows of the respective town halls . Sometimes , the name " the third defenestration of Prague " is used , although it has no standard meaning . For example , it has been used to describe the death of Jan Masaryk , who was found below the bathroom window of the building of the Czechoslovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 10 March 1948 . The official report listed the death as a suicide . However , it was widely believed he was murdered , either by the nascent Communist government in which he served as Foreign Minister , or by the Soviet secret services . A Prague police report in 2004 concluded after forensic research that Masaryk had indeed been thrown out the window to his death . This report was seemingly corroborated in 2006 when a Russian journalist claimed that his mother knew the Russian intelligence officer who threw Masaryk out the window . References . An English translation of part of Slavata ' s report of the incident is printed in Henry Frederick Schwarz , " The Imperial Privy Council in the Seventeenth Century " ( Cambridge , Mass . : Harvard University Press , 1943 , issued as volume LIII of " Harvard Historical Studies " ) , pp . 344 – 347 .