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Defenestration (from Neo-Latin de fenestrā) is the act of throwing someone or something out of a window.

The term was coined around the time of an incident in Prague Castle in the year 1618 which became the spark that started the Thirty Years' War. This was done in "good Bohemian style", referring to the defenestration which had occurred in Prague's New Town Hall almost 200 years earlier (July 1419), and on that occasion led to the Hussite war. The word comes from the Neo-Latin de- (down from) and fenestra (window or opening).

The term originates from two incidents in history, both occurring in Prague. In 1419, seven town officials were thrown from the New Town Hall, precipitating the Hussite War. In 1618, two Imperial governors and their secretary were tossed from the Prague Castle, sparking the Thirty Years' War. These incidents, particularly that in 1618, were referred to as the Defenestrations of Prague and gave rise to the term and the concept. The word itself is derived from Neo-Latin defenestratio; with dē meaning "out" + fenestra meaning "window" + -atio as a suffix indicating an action or process.

Several chronicles (notably the Annals of Westhide Abbey) note that King John killed his nephew, Arthur of Brittany, by defenestration from the castle at Rouen, France, in 1203. In 1419, In the First Defenestration of Prague, a judge, the burgomaster, and some thirteen members of the town council of the New Town of Prague were defenestrated by a Hussite mob. Akbar, in a rare act of cruelty probably exacerbated by his anger at the loss of his favorite general, ordered his defenestration a second time, killing him. On December 1, 1640, during the Portuguese Restoration War, in Lisbon, a group of conspirators, who supported the rise of nobleman John, 8th Duke of Braganza to the Portuguese throne invaded Ribeira Palace and found Miguel de Vasconcelos, the hated Portuguese Secretary of state of the Habsburg Philip III, hidden in a closet, shot him and defenestrated him. On May 22, 1949, while a patient at Bethesda Naval Hospital, James Forrestal, the first US Secretary of Defense, died by an alleged suicide from fatal injuries sustained after falling out of a sixteenth-floor window. In 2007 in Gaza, gunmen allegedly affiliated with Hamas killed a Fatah supporter by defenestration, an act repeated the next day when a Hamas supporter was defenestrated by alleged supporters of Fatah.

After releasing Tactical Breach Wizards in 2024, the developers started referring to these three games as their Defenestration Trilogy. In the season 3 episode 4 of the TV Series Hannibal, character Alana Bloom says in a tragicomic way that she always enjoyed the word "defenestration" and now she get to use it in conversation after being defenestrated. In the film series of Friday the 13th, Pamela, Jason, and Tommy have been known to throw bodies (themselves except for Pamela) through windows to scare their victims or outright kill them, such in Friday the 13th Part 3. In the Red Hood Story Pack, Black Mask is seen being confronted by Red Hood before being kicked out of a window, it is presumed that Black Mask died from the fall. And in the entire Batman Arkham series, Batman (being controlled by the player) or other playable characters can do a self defenestrated by jumping through the windows at certain areas or can do takeouts called window (replaced with Fear Takeout in Arkham Knight if two or more seen. In Arkham Arkham Knight, Firefly will eject himself out of the three firehouses that are on fire by him, granted it's a semi due to the use of a jetpack and wasn't thrown out but a window and him operating the jetpack still counts.

Quick Facts

• This was done in "good Bohemian style", referring to the defenestration which had occurred in Prague's New Town Hall almost 200 years earlier (July 1419), and on that occasion led to the Hussite war.
• The term was coined around the time of an incident in Prague Castle in the year 1618 which became the spark that started the Thirty Years' War.
• The word comes from the Neo-Latin de- (down from) and fenestra (window or opening).
• In 1419, seven town officials were thrown from the New Town Hall, precipitating the Hussite War.
• In 1419, In the First Defenestration of Prague, a judge, the burgomaster, and some thirteen members of the town council of the New Town of Prague were defenestrated by a Hussite mob.

Source material: Wikipedia - "Defenestration". Adapted and summarized for DiscoverScroll. Original contributors are credited through the linked Wikipedia article. Read original on Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes were made from the original.