Fenestration means an opening in the walls of a structure. When we’re talking about architecture it means the design, construction, or presence of openings in a building. So you’d think that defenestration would mean either closing up openings or simply breaking windows. But defenestration is much, much cooler than that, it actually means throwing something or someone out of a window.
Defenestration, I would imagine, is as old as fenestration, but the fact that there is a specific word for it seems a bit OTT. The term defenestration found itself in common use thanks to a couple of highly publicised historical incidents in Prague where some important folks found themselves being lobbed out of windows.
In 1419, seven Prague officials were thrown from the Town Hall which brought on the Hussite War. In 1618, two Imperial governors and their secretary were tossed from Prague Castle, sparking the Thirty Years War. These two willful acts of people-chucking became known as the Defenestrations of Prague and the word was suddenly thrust into the English vernacular.
Although it was the Prague defenestrations which brought the word into common use, there have, of course, been plenty of examples of defenestrations before and since. I’ve gathered together a few such examples for your general amusement:
The Death of Jezebel by Gustave Dore
Princess Jezebel was an unlikable 9th century Biblical character, she was married to King Ahab (nothing to do with the white whale) and caused a right nuisance of herself. She was all about worshiping the graven images of dodgy Pagan Gods and persecuted the followers of Jaweh. She used her political and regal power to put people to death in order to steal their lands. She was a baddie. God did not take kindly to her mucking about and stuck his oar in.
Her husband, Ahab, died in battle and was succeeded by his son Ahazia who died in an accident soon after, leaving the throne for his brother Joram. The prophet Elisha commanded Jeru, the leader of the Joram’s army to become king and destroy Ahab’s descendants. Joram was first to face death and was shot with an arrow.
Jezebel was next in line to be slaughtered for being so naughty. Jezebel heard that Jeru was en route and decided to put on her wig and a spot of lippy / rouge. This is why she has become known as a “painted lady“; despite her reputation for loose morals, she wasn’t actually a lady of the night as is often presumed.
Jeru ordered her servants to throw her out of the window, which they did. Jeru spread her blood about the room and then trampled on her corpse with his horse, before leaving her body to be eaten by wild dogs.
According to some sources, in 1203, King John killed his nephew, Arthur of Brittany, by defenestration from the castle at Rouen, France.
Abraham Lincoln, in an odd political shimmy, jumped from a window with some other Illinois legislators in 1840. It was an attempt to prevent a quorum on a vote to resume specie payment that endangered the reserves of the Illinois State Bank.
On December 5, 1840, Democrats…
…proposed an early adjournment, knowing this would bring a speedy end to the State Bank. The Whigs tried to counter by leaving the capitol building before the vote, but the doors were locked. That’s when Lincoln made his move. He headed for the second story, opened a window and jumped to the ground.
It didn’t work.
During the Polish uprising in 1863 Russian troops threw Chopin’s piano out of a second storey window. Shortly before the incident, Chopin had fled the country forever, so he was unhurt in the musical mayhem.
In 1383 the Bishop of Lisbon – Dom Martinho – met his end thanks to a spot of defenestration.
Martinho was thrown from a window by the citizens of Lisbon who presumed he had aided the Castilians in their siege of the city in the same year.
Here’s another Biblical defenestration. This time a chap called Eutychus, a young man from Troas, was listening to the Apostle John preaching late one Sunday night. John must have been boring because Eutychus nodded off and fell from the third floor window. He died on impact.
But don’t worry, the story ends well; John “fell upon” the body and brought him back to life. So this is the only recorded time in history that an act of fatal defenestration has been reversed. Unless he had just been knocked unconscious? Bible translations differ so it’s unclear whether the Apostle is supposed to have raised him from the dead or just looked after him until he was better.
If someone had nodded off whilst I was talking to them I would have thrown them out of the window myself.
The Serbian monarchs King Alexander and Queen Draga were murdered and thrown from a window by a group of Serbian officers in 1903.
King Alexander had been pretty popular at the start of his reign, but his marriage to the widow Draga who was 12 years his senior (who had also been his mother’s lady-in-waiting) ruffled a lot of feathers; the partnership put the line to the throne in confused jeopardy.
A group headed by military officers, a Greek Orthodox militant and the leader of the Black Hand secret society (who would eventually murder Archduke Franz Ferdinand) decided to kill the couple. They stormed the palace, murdered the pair, mutilated the bodies and disemboweled them before throwing them from a window onto piles of manure.
Adham Khan was Akbar the Great, the Mughal Emperor of India‘s foster brother and military general. Adham had the pleasure of being defenestrated no less than twice.
Akbar had promoted Adham’s rival – Ataga Khan, Adham took unkindly to this and had him killed. The death of Ataga royally jazzed off Akbar who took vengeance upon Adham.
Akbar awoke in the fuss just following Adham’s murder of Akbar and punched him square in the face. Akbar ordered Adham to be thrown from the 12 metre tall ramparts of the fort. The first fall broke both of Adham’s legs. In a blind rage Akbar called for him to be dropped a second time, his will was done and the job was finished.
Akbar personally informed Adham’s mother of her son’s death, she is reported to have said ‘You have done well.’ She died 40 days later of acute depression.
In conclusion: defenestration isn’t necessarily lethal, it can be politically motivated and it has a strong historic pedigree. But, personally, I don’t recommend it. There are much better ways of dying – death by laughter, for instance.
