The Defenestrations of Prague Trivia Quiz

Answer: Czech Republic

Prague is the capital of the Czech Republic and also of Bohemia. For several centuries prior to 1918, Bohemia (and neighboring Moravia) were under Habsburg rule.

Answer: The Hussite Wars

The First Defenestration of Prague involved the killing of seven members of the hostile city council by a crowd of radical Czech Hussites on July 30, 1419. The prolonged Hussite Wars broke out shortly afterward, lasting until 1436. (The Hussites campaigned for reform in the Church and were in many respects "early Protestants").

Answer: A window

On May 23, 1618, in Prague, a few royal (Habsburg) officials were thrown out a window of Hradcany Castle by a group of Bohemian noblemen who were not willing to elect a Habsburg as King of Bohemia.

Answer: A cart full of manure

The Second Defenestration of Prague that occured in 1618 resulted not in death, but in the soiling of official royal garments, and the 30 Years War. This is not to be confused with the earlier (or First) Defenestration of Prague in 1419, which resulted in seven deaths as a result of the defenestraters having neglected to place the cart of manure in the appropriate place, or indeed any cart at all. By 1618 defenestration had been perfected in Prague.

Answer: 30 years

The Thirty Years' War lasted for 30 years, from 1618-48 - hence its name.
The first defenestration was in 1419, the second in 1483 and the third in 1618.
[ defenestrated = thrown out of a window ]

Answer: Throwing out of a window

Defenestration is the act of throwing someone or something out of a window. It's hardly ever used except in the phrase "defenestration(s) of Prague".

Answer: They were rebelling

The Bohemian aristocracy was effectively in revolt following the election of Ferdinand, Duke of Styria and a Catholic zealot, to rule the Holy Roman Empire, which included Bohemia. They wanted to elect their own king.

Answer: Scribe

The royal officials were imperial (Habsburg) governors and were the key target of the act of protest.

Answer: The National Museum, Stockholm

The Thirty Years' War was a a major European war involving Bohemia, practically all the German states (the Holy Roman Empire), Transylvania, Denmark, Sweden, England, France. With the Treaty of Westphalia and the end of the war, the Holy Roman Empire was greatly weakened.

Answer: The bathroom

A third "defenestration" occurred on March 10, 1948, when Czechoslovak foreign minister Jan Masaryk, the country's only remaining non-socialist minister, was found dead under a bathroom window of the foreign ministry in Prague following the establishment of a clearly Communist-dominated government in February, 1948. Speculation over the cause of his death continues to this day, though no evidence has been found to incriminate or exculpate the regime.