Second Defenestration of Prague - May 23, 1618

On this day in 1618, two regents were thrown from a window in the Prague Castle, an incident now known as the Second Defenestration of Prague. For more on this subect, listen to an episode of Stuff You Missed in History Class on the Defenestrations of Prague here: https://www.missedinhistory.com/podcasts/the-defenestrations-of-prague.htm

Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of I
Heart Radio. Hello, Welcome to This Day in History Class,
where we flipped through the book of history and bringing
a new page every day. Today it's May nineteen. The

(00:24):
day was May six, eighteen. Catholic regents Velam Slavata and
Yaroslav Brejuta of Martinis were found guilty of violating the
Letter of Majesty and they and their secretary Philippe Fabricius,
were thrown out of the window of the council room
of Prague Castle. The Letter of Majesty was a document

(00:48):
that Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph the Second signed that granted
religious liberties to Protestant and Catholic citizens living in the
estates of Bohemia. The regents and Fabricius came out of
the definistration with no serious injuries, but the act did
tip off a Bohemian revolt against the Habsburg Emperor Ferdinand

(01:09):
the Second and lead to the Thirty Years War. The
first definistration of Prague happened on July fourteen, nineteen. Definistration
just means throwing someone or something out of a window,
and that incident Hussites or followers of the religious reformer
Yon Hohos broke into the new town Hall in Prague

(01:31):
to free imprison Utoquists or Hussites, who believed that the lady,
like the clergy, should receive the Eucharist under the forms
of bread and wine. Lady just means the common people
who weren't part of the clergy. The radical Hussites threw
several city councilors out of the window, killing them. The

(01:52):
first definistration is considered the first violent incident in the
Hussite Wars. Eventually, the Catholics and the eutoquist came to
a peace agreement, but what's known as the second Definistration
of Prague came two centuries after the first. By the
end of the Hussite Revolution, there were three estates in

(02:12):
the Bohemian diet the Lords, the Knights and the Burghers.
Bavarian King and Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian the Second said
he would tolerate religious denominations that accepted the Bohemian Confession
of fifteen seventy five, a document that attempted to satisfy
everyone in Bohemia and allow religions to coexist peacefully, but

(02:35):
Maximilian the Second did not formally act on the confession
before his death. After Maximilian's son Rudolph the Second became
a king, he signed the Letter of Majesty. The letter
gave freedom of religious practice to the Utraquists, the Roman
Catholic Church, the Unitas Brothram, and Lutherans who accepted the confession.

(02:57):
Bohemia was still officially Roman Catholic, but people of other
religions were permitted to worship as they wished. The letter
was intended to be a framework for religious peace, and
Catholics and Protestants did largely get along in Bohemia for
several years, but in sixteen twelve Rudolph's brother Matthias became

(03:18):
Holy Roman Emperor. In sixteen seventeen, subjects of the Archbishop
of Prague built Protestant churches at rob and braumof on
land that the Catholic clergy claimed. The archbishop ordered the
churches be closed, and King Matthias upheld this order. Protestants
claimed the land was royal and they saw this as

(03:39):
a violation of their religious liberties, and in sixteen seventeen Ferdinand,
Archduke of Austria, was elected King of Bohemia. Ferdinand wanted
to restore a Catholic Empire, and he stacked his counsel
with staunch Catholics, so Protestants in Prague called an assembly
Catholic regents. The Slavata and Yaroslav Borgita were put on

(04:03):
trial for violating the right of freedom of religion. On
May eighteen, Slavata and Borgita were found guilty and thrown
out of a window with their secretary, Philippe Fabrucius. They
fell about fifty feet or fifteen meters to the ground,
but they did not fall to their deaths. They landed

(04:25):
in a pile of horse manure and survived. Catholic officials
claimed the miraculous survival was the doing of angels. For
the next two years, it was the mostly Protestant Bohemian
estates against Emperor Ferdinand the Second and the Catholic Holy
Roman Empire. That conflict culminated in the Battle of White Mountain.

(04:46):
Were Ferdinand the Second and the German Catholic League defeated
Frederick the Five. Ferdinand soon started executing rebel leaders, confiscating
land and expelling Protestants. He issued a new constitution that
created an authoritarian government in Bohemia. The Thirty Years War,
which ended in sixty eight evolved from religious conflict between

(05:10):
Protestant and Catholic states and into a war involving most
of the major European powers. I'm each Deacote and hopefully
you know a little more about history today than you
did yesterday. And if you'd like to learn more about
this topic, you can listen to the episode of Stuff
you missed in history class called The Definistrations of Frog.

(05:33):
If there are any upcoming days in history that you
really like me to cover on the show, give us
a shout on social media at t D I h
C podcast. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you again tomorrow.

(05:54):
For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the iHeart
Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows.