page_title: Defenestrations of Prague
section_title: First Defenestration of Prague
hierarchical_section_title: Defenestrations of Prague / First Defenestration of Prague
caption_attribution_description: Norsk bokmål: Det nye rådhuset - Navomestska Radnice - The New Town Hall - Nove Mesto - First defenestration
context_page_description: The Defenestrations of Prague were three incidents in the history of Bohemia in which multiple people were defenestrated. The origin of the word "defenestrate" is believed to come from the episodes in Prague in 1618 when the disgruntled Protestant estates threw two royal governors out of a window of the Hradčany Castle and wrote an extensive Apologia explaining their action. In the Middle Ages and early modern times, defenestrations were not uncommon--the act carried elements of lynching and mob violence in the form of murder committed together.
  The first governmental defenestration occurred in 1419, second in 1483 and the third in 1618, although the term "Defenestration of Prague" more commonly refers to the third. Often, however, the 1483 event does not count as a "significant defenestration", which leads to some ambiguity when the "second Prague defenestration" is referred to as the 1618 defenestration. The first and third defenestrations helped to trigger a prolonged religious conflict inside Bohemia or beyond, while the second helped establish a religious peace in the country for 31 years.
context_section_description: The First Defenestration of Prague involved the killing of seven members of the city council by a crowd of 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 and allegedly hit him. This enraged the mob and they stormed the town hall.  Once inside the hall, the group defenestrated the judge, the burgomaster, and several members of the town council. They were all killed by the fall.
  King Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia, after hearing the news, was stunned and died shortly after, supposedly due to shock.
  The procession was a result of the growing discontent at the contemporary direction of the Church and the inequality between the peasants, the Church's prelates, and the nobility. This discontent combined with rising feelings of nationalism increased the influence of preachers such as Jan Želivský, influenced by John Wycliffe, who saw the 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.
caption: The New Town Hall, the place of the first defenestration
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