Prague has always been a tough town for elected officials.
On July 30, 1419, Jan Želivský, a Hussite priest at the Church of the Virgin Mary of the Snows, led his congregation in a procession through the streets of Prague to the Town Hall. The town council had refused to exchange their Hussite prisoners, and an anti-Hussite threw a rock at one of the protesters. Enraged, the crowd stormed the Town Hall and threw seven of the council members from the windows onto the spears of the armed congregation below. Thus, the First Defenestration of Prague occurred.
Lest you think that was the only defenestration in that tough old town – on May 23, 1618, at Prague Castle, an assembly of Protestants tried two Imperial governors, Wilhelm Graf Slavata (1572–1652) and Jaroslav Boita Graf von Martinic (1582–1649), for violating the Letter of Majesty (which granted freedom of religion). They found them guilty and threw them, along with their scribe, Philip Fabricius, out the high windows of the Bohemian Chancellery. They landed on a large pile of manure and survived unharmed. Fabricius was later ennobled by the emperor and granted the title von Hohenfall (literally translating to “of Highfall”).
Apparently, the streets of Prague were literally full of crap.
But wait, there’s more. Another defenestration (chronologically the Second Defenestration of Prague) occurred on September 24, 1483, when a violent overthrow of the municipal governments of the Old and New Towns ended with the bodies of the Old-Town portreeve and seven aldermen being thrown out of the windows of the respective town halls.
Sometimes, the name “Third Defenestration of Prague” is used, although it has no universally accepted definition. For example, it has been used to describe the death of Jan Masaryk, who was found beneath the bathroom window of the Czechoslovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs on March 10, 1948 – allegedly murdered by Communists, although the official Communist line claimed it was suicide.
It’s tough to be an elected official in Prague.
So, here are some quick rules for avoiding defenestration:
7. Don’t throw stones at angry mobs.
6. Watch out for Catholics.
5. Watch out for Protestants.
4. Don’t piss off really powerful people.
3. Surround tall buildings with piles of manure.
2. Never go to Prague.
And, of course,
1. Never leave home.
Again, it’s a tough town for politicians but it’s the gravy train for glazers.
The Haus of Dcaligari 