Defenestration of Prague (1618)
Officials are thrown from a castle window — and survive
Bohemian Protestant nobles threw two royal regents and their secretary out of a window of Prague Castle. All three survived: Catholics credited the Virgin Mary, Protestants a dung heap below. The incident sparked the Thirty Years' War.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 17th century
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The Thirty Years' War began when officials were thrown out of a window — and survived. Catholics credited the Virgin Mary; Protestants said they landed on a dung heap below Prague Castle. Share →
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1598–1613 Time of Troubles — 20 years earlier
- 1612 Minin and Pozharsky liberate Moscow — 6 years earlier
- 1613 Election of Michael Romanov as Tsar — 5 years earlier
Africa
- 1624–1663 Nzinga becomes Queen of Ndongo — 6 years later
Asia
- 1600 Battle of Sekigahara — 18 years earlier
- 1632–1653 Building of the Taj Mahal — 14 years later
Americas
- 1600 Eruption of Huaynaputina — 18 years earlier
- c. 1605–1694 Quilombo of Palmares — 13 years earlier
- 1607 Founding of Jamestown — 11 years earlier
- 1609 Jesuit reductions among the Guaraní — 9 years earlier
Alive at the time
- Galileo Galilei (aged 54)
- René Descartes (aged 22)
- Rembrandt (aged 12)
- James I (aged 52)
- Johannes Kepler (aged 47)
- Abbas the Great (aged 47)
- Nur Jahan (aged 41)
- Ferdinand II (aged 40)
- Tokugawa Hidetada (aged 39)
- Njinga of Ndongo and Matamba (aged 35)