The Chilling Origins of the Word Defenestrate

With all the political instability here in Latin America, this peculiar little word keeps echoing through the news, referring to when someone is ousted or suddenly forced to leave their position. Thus, many officials from various governments are defenestrated every week.

But this word has a very particular history, and behind its meaning hides the bizarre practice of punishing—read: assassinating—an official by throwing them out a window. Indeed, the word comes from the Latin "fenestra," which means just that: window.

Religious Conflicts with the Monarchy

It all began in July 1419, in the city of Prague, when Jan Zelivsky, the priest of the church of "Our Lady of the Snows," decided to organize a peaceful procession to protest recent decisions by the City Council. The crowd of protesters gathered outside the Council to demand that the decision be reversed, tempers flared, and at a certain point someone threw a stone from one of the windows of the Council building, with such bad luck that it struck Zelivsky himself.

The crowd went mad and stormed the building, cornering the mayor and six other Council officials. Without much thought, they decided to throw them out the window. Some died from the fall, others at the hands of protesters who delivered the final blow.

Since no previous "defenestrations" were known, this episode, logically, was called "The First Defenestration."

But religious conflicts still had a long way to go in Prague. The Catholic Church had fragmented, and one branch became the Hussite Church—in fact, our earlier priest Zelivsky was a Hussite.

In 1483, the Hussites were upset that a Catholic had been elected king of Bohemia, the region where Prague was located. In turn, the new Catholic king Vladislaus II hatched a plan to suppress the more radical Hussites, driving them out of Prague or killing them, paradoxically with the collaboration of the more conservative Hussites.

To cut to the chase, the radical Hussites preempted the execution of the plan and once again stormed the Council, cornered its officials, and guess what happened?… exactly, they threw them out the window. The mayor and several councilors died. This was, that's right, "The Second Defenestration." And I'm not making up the title—that's really what it's called in the history books.

The Third Defenestration

This third incident is probably the most important of all from a historical standpoint, as it was the trigger for what was called "The Thirty Years' War," which left many dead and involved much of Europe.

It happened in 1618, and the fuse was lit, again, in Prague. Once more, the religious bent of the monarchy clashed with the mood of a certain part of the population, which ended in the window-launching of three high government officials. They were thrown from the famous Hradčany Castle, today a popular tourist monument. Beautiful, by the way.

Those thrown had the luck of not dying, as they fell into the castle moats, full of manure; but even though this event didn't result in immediate fatalities, it served as a pretext for the start of a cruel war, whose complex unfolding is beyond the scope of this article.

The Defenestration of Prague in 1618 was a key moment in the Thirty Years' War, a conflict that devastated much of Europe. The incident was seen as an act of rebellion against the emperor and his advisors, and led to the formation of a Protestant alliance that opposed the Catholic Church and imperial powers. Since then, the Defenestration of Prague has become a symbol of resistance and struggle against oppression, and has been used as a metaphor in numerous political contexts.

So ends the history of the window-throwings that gave rise to the word DEFENESTRATE.

Today, the word "defenestrated" is commonly used in the world of politics to describe those who have been expelled or fired abruptly and publicly. A recent example is that of Brazil's former health minister, Luiz Henrique Mandetta, who was "defenestrated" from Bolsonaro's government in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The word is also used in other contexts, such as the business world and social media, to describe those who have lost their status or popularity suddenly and dramatically.

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