Editing Defenestration

{{Short description|Act of throwing someone out of a window}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2022}}
[[File:Prager.Fenstersturz.1618.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.35|[[Matthäus Merian]]'s impression of the [[Second Defenestration of Prague|1618 Defenestration of Prague]]]]

'''Defenestration''' (from [[Neo-Latin]] {{lang|la|de}} {{lang|la|fenestrā}}<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.lexico.com/definition/defenestration | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108114638/https://www.lexico.com/definition/defenestration | url-status=dead | archive-date=November 8, 2020 | title=Meaning of defenestration in English | work=Oxford English Dictionary}}</ref>) is the act of throwing someone or something out of a [[window]].<ref>''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]''</ref>
The term was coined around the time of an [[Defenestrations of Prague#The 1618 Defenestration of Prague|incident]] in [[Prague Castle]] in the year 1618 which became the spark that started the [[Thirty Years' War]]. This was done in "good Bohemian style", referring to the defenestration which had occurred in Prague's [[New Town Hall (Prague)|New Town Hall]] almost 200 years earlier (July 1419), and on that occasion led to the [[Hussite war]].<ref>Swedish encyclopedia NE2000, digital version, article "defenestrestrationerna i Prag"</ref> The word comes from the [[Neo-Latin]]<ref>same ref.; "New Latin" could be said to be the collection of "Latin" words which wasn't in use by the Romans</ref> ''[[wikt:de-|de-]]'' (''down from'') and ''[[wikt:fenestra|fenestra]]'' (window or opening).<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=defenestration | title=defenestration | work=Online Etymological Dictionary | first1=Douglas |last1=Harper | year=2001 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161010020911/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=defenestration | archive-date=October 10, 2016 }}</ref>

By extension, the term is also used to describe the forcible or [[wikt:summary|summary]] removal of an adversary.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.laht.com/article.asp?CategoryId=10717&ArticleId=333870|title=Latin American Herald Tribune - Caracas Metromayor's 'Political Defenestration' All But Complete in Venezuela|website=www.laht.com|access-date=May 9, 2018|archive-date=April 14, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180414172327/http://www.laht.com/article.asp?CategoryId=10717&ArticleId=333870|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== Origin ==
The term originates from two incidents in history, both occurring in [[Prague]]. In 1419, seven town officials were thrown from the New Town Hall, precipitating the [[Hussite War]]. In 1618, two Imperial governors and their secretary were tossed from the [[Prague Castle]], sparking the [[Thirty Years' War]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wedgwood |first=C.V. |title=The Thirty Years War |date=1938 |publisher=New York Review of Books |isbn=978-1-59017-146-2 |edition=2005 |pages=78–79}}</ref> These incidents, particularly that in 1618, were referred to as the [[Defenestrations of Prague]] and gave rise to the term and the concept.

The word itself is derived from [[Neo-Latin]] ''defenestratio''; with ''dē'' meaning "out" + ''fenestra'' meaning "window" + ''-atio''  as a suffix indicating an action or process.

== Notable cases ==
{{More citations needed section|date=May 2011}}
[[File:097.The Death of Jezebel.jpg|thumb|upright|The defenestration of the Biblical Queen [[Jezebel]] at [[Jezreel (city)|Jezreel]], by [[Gustave Doré]]]]
{{See also|Category:Deaths by defenestration}}
* Around the 9th century BC, Queen [[Jezebel]] was defenestrated by her own eunuch servants, at the urging of [[Jehu]], according to the [[Hebrew Bible]]. ({{Sourcetext|source=Bible|version=King James|book=2 Kings|chapter=9|verse=33}})
* Several chronicles (notably the Annals of Westhide Abbey) note that [[John of England|King John]] killed his nephew, [[Arthur of Brittany]], by defenestration from the castle at [[Rouen]], [[France]], in 1203.
* In 1378, the crafts and their leader [[Wouter van der Leyen]] occupied the [[Leuven]] city hall and seized the Leuven government. Most of the patricians left the city and fled to [[Aarschot]]. After negotiations between the parties, they agreed to share the government. The patricians did not accept this easily, as it caused them to lose their absolute power. In an attempt to regain absolute control, they had Wouter Van der Leyen assassinated in [[Brussels]]. Seeking revenge, the crafts handed over the patricians to a furious crowd. The crowd stormed the city hall and defenestrated the patricians. At least 15 patricians were killed.
[[File:O povo amotinado precipita o cadáver do bispo D. Martinho da torre da Sé (Roque Gameiro, in Leonor Telles, por Marcelino Mesquita, 1904).png|thumb|232x232px|The [[Patriarchate of Lisbon|Bishop]] of [[Lisbon]] D. Martinho de [[Zamora, Spain|Zamora]] is thrown by the revolted populace from the cathedral's bell tower, as depicted by [[Alfredo Roque Gameiro|Roque Gameiro]], in 1904.]]
* In 1383, to celebrate the [[1383–1385 Portuguese interregnum|acclamation]] of King [[John I of Portugal]], all churches of the realm were ordered to ring their bells. However, upon the lack of any ringing coming from the [[Lisbon Cathedral|capital's cathedral]] the populace of [[Lisbon]] revolted and rammed their way inside the building. [[Patriarchate of Lisbon|Bishop]] Dom Martinho of [[Zamora, Spain|Zamora]] was accused of treason by the populace for being [[Castilians|Castilian]] and supporting [[Antipope Clement VII]] and was, therefore, defenestrated from one of the bell towers. His corpse was assaulted and dragged to [[Rossio|Rossio Square]], where it was left to rot and be eaten by dogs, until the populace had enough of its smell and buried it in the square.<ref>[[Fernão Lopes]], ''Crónica de el-rei D. João I'', chapter XII</ref>
* In 1419, In the [[First Defenestration of Prague]], a judge, the burgomaster, and some thirteen members of the [[town council]] of the [[New Town, Prague|New Town of Prague]] were defenestrated by a [[Hussite]] mob.
* In 1452, King [[James&nbsp;II of Scotland]] murdered [[William Douglas, 8th Earl of Douglas]], with his own hands and defenestrated him at [[Stirling Castle]].
* On April 26, 1478, after the failure of the [[Pazzi conspiracy]] to murder the ruler of [[Florence]], [[Lorenzo de' Medici]], [[Jacopo de' Pazzi]] was defenestrated.
* In 1483, [[Prague]]'s Old-Town [[portreeve]] and the bodies of seven murdered New-Town [[Alderman|aldermen]] were defenestrated.
 [[File:Giorgio Vasari San Bartolomeo.jpg|thumb|[[Giorgio Vasari]]'s impression of the [[St.&nbsp;Bartholomew's Day massacre]]]]
*On May 16, 1562, [[Adham Khan]], [[Akbar]]'s general and foster brother, was defenestrated twice for murdering a rival general, [[Ataga Khan]], who had been recently promoted by Akbar. Akbar was woken up in the tumult after the murder. He struck Adham Khan down personally with his fist and immediately ordered his defenestration by royal order. The first time, his legs were broken as a result of the {{convert|12|m|ft|-1|adj=on|abbr=off}} fall from the ramparts of [[Agra Fort]] but he remained alive. Akbar, in a rare act of cruelty probably exacerbated by his anger at the loss of his favorite general, ordered his defenestration a second time, killing him. Adham Khan had wrongly counted on the influence of his mother and Akbar's wet nurse, [[Maham Anga]], to save him as she was almost an unofficial regent in the days of Akbar's youth. Akbar personally informed Maham Anga of her son's death, to which she famously commented, "You have done well." She died 40 days later of acute depression.<ref>Fazle, Abu. [http://www.columbiauniversity.org/itc/mealac/pritchett/00litlinks/abulfazl/02_44_namah.html ''Akbarnama''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081121024159/http://www.columbiauniversity.org/itc/mealac/pritchett/00litlinks/abulfazl/02_44_namah.html |date=November 21, 2008 }}</ref>
* In 1572, [[French people|French]] King [[Charles IX of France|Charles&nbsp;IX]]'s friend, the [[Huguenot]] leader [[Gaspard II de Coligny|Gaspard de Coligny]], was killed in accordance with the wishes of Charles' mother, [[Catherine de' Medici]]. Charles allegedly said "then kill them all that no man be left to reproach me". Thousands of Huguenots were killed in the [[St.&nbsp;Bartholomew's Day massacre]] after soldiers attacked Coligny in his house, stabbed him, and defenestrated him.
* In 1618, rebel Protestant leaders in Prague [[Second Defenestration of Prague|defenestrate]] two Catholic Royal regents and their secretary, who survived the {{convert|68|ft|m|-1|adj=on|abbr=off|order=flip}} fall out of the windows of [[Prague Castle]].
* On December 1, 1640, during the [[Portuguese Restoration War]], in [[Lisbon]], [[Forty Conspirators|a group of conspirators]], who supported the rise of nobleman [[John IV of Portugal|John]], [[Duke of Braganza|8th Duke of Braganza]] to the [[List of Portuguese monarchs|Portuguese throne]] invaded [[Ribeira Palace]] and found [[Miguel de Vasconcelos]], the hated Portuguese [[Secretary of state]] of the [[Habsburg Spain|Habsburg]] [[Philip IV of Spain|Philip&nbsp;III]], hidden in a closet, shot him and defenestrated him.
* On June 27, 1844, [[Joseph Smith]], founder of the [[Latter Day Saint movement]], died after being [[Death of Joseph Smith|shot and pushed out a window]] of the [[Carthage Jail]] in [[Carthage, Illinois]] while attempting to escape a mob.
* On June 11, 1903, a group of Serbian army officers murdered and defenestrated [[Alexander I of Serbia|King Alexander]] and [[Draga Mašin|Queen Draga]].
* In 1922, Italian politician and writer [[Gabriele d'Annunzio]] was temporarily crippled after falling from a window, possibly pushed by a follower of [[Benito Mussolini]].<ref>{{cite news |first=Christopher |last=Duggan |url=http://www.the-tls.co.uk/tls/public/article1225715.ece |title=The allure of D'Annunzio |newspaper=Times Literary Supplement |date=March 6, 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141111185014/http://www.the-tls.co.uk/tls/public/article1225715.ece |archive-date=November 11, 2014 }}</ref>
* In March to April 1932, [[Ivanovo]] region of [[Soviet Union]], due to ration cuts and labor intensification measures, strikes and spontaneous assemblies broke out. Ten thousand demonstrators ransacked the party and police buildings with slogans like "Toss the Communists . . . out the window."<ref name="sk">{{cite book |first=Stephen |last=Kotkin |title=Stalin, Volume II: Waiting for Hitler, 1929–1941 |publisher=Penguin Press |location=New York |page=95 | isbn =  9780141027951 | date=2018 }}</ref> 
* On March 10, 1948, the Czechoslovakian minister of foreign affairs [[Jan Masaryk]] was found dead, in his pyjamas, in the courtyard of the Foreign Ministry below his bathroom window. The initial investigation stated that he committed suicide by jumping out of the window, although some believe that he was murdered by the ascendant Communists. A 2004 police investigation into his death concluded that, contrary to the initial ruling, he did not commit suicide, but was defenestrated, most likely by Czechoslovak Communists and their Soviet [[NKVD]] advisers for his opposition to the [[Czechoslovak coup d'état of 1948|February 1948 Communist putsch]].<ref>{{cite news |first=Rob |last=Cameron |url=http://www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/police-close-case-on-1948-death-of-jan-masaryk-murder-not-suicide |title=Police close case on 1948 death of Jan Masaryk – murder, not suicide |publisher=Radio Praha |date=January 6, 2001 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150223080826/http://www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/police-close-case-on-1948-death-of-jan-masaryk-murder-not-suicide |archive-date=February 23, 2015 }}</ref>
* On November 28, 1953, the U.S. biological warfare specialist [[Frank Olson]] died after a fall from a hotel window that has been suggested to have been an assassination by the [[CIA]].<ref>{{cite news |first=Tom |last=Schoenberg |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-17/cia-cover-up-suit-over-scientist-s-fatal-fall-dismissed.html |title=CIA Cover-Up Suit Over Scientist's Fatal Fall Dismissed |publisher=Bloomberg News |date=July 17, 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140304111530/http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-17/cia-cover-up-suit-over-scientist-s-fatal-fall-dismissed.html |archive-date=March 4, 2014 }}</ref>
* On May 29, 1960, the Turkish physician and politician [[Namık Gedik]] who served as the [[Ministry of the Interior (Turkey)|minister of interior]] during the mid-1950s, committed suicide throwing himself out of a window in Ankara when he was in custody.<ref name="lew">{{cite journal
|author=Geoffrey Lewis|author-link=Geoffrey Lewis (scholar)|title=Turkey: The End of the First Republic|journal=[[The World Today (magazine)|The World Today]]|date=September 1960|volume=16|issue=9|page=384|jstor=40393271}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Reuben Silverman|title=Show (and tell) trials: Competing narratives of Turkey's Democrat Party era|journal=Turkish Studies|year=2021|volume=23 |page=14|doi=10.1080/14683849.2021.1915143
|s2cid=237989874}}</ref><ref name="zehra">{{cite news|author=Zehra Aslan|title=Harp Okulu'ndan Yassıada'ya (2)|access-date=26 November 2021
|work=Independent Turkish|date=28 May 2020|url=https://www.indyturk.com/node/186176/t%C3%BCrkiyeden-sesler/harp-okulu%E2%80%99ndan-yass%C4%B1ada%E2%80%99ya-2|archive-date=28 February 2021|language=tr|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228071610/https://www.indyturk.com/node/186176/t%C3%BCrkiyeden-sesler/harp-okulu%E2%80%99ndan-yass%C4%B1ada%E2%80%99ya-2}}</ref> Gedik was arrested on 27 May 1960 immediately following the [[1960 Turkish coup d'état|military coup]] along with his colleagues. Some witnesses suggest he was beaten unconscious by a small group of young military officers and subsequently defenestrated.
* In 1962, [[Communist Party of Spain]] member [[Julián Grimau]] was seemingly tortured and then defenestrated from the [[Real Casa de Correos|premises of the Dirección General de Seguridad in Madrid]] suffering fractures to the wrists and serious skull injuries,<ref>{{Cite book|page=178|first=Rafael|last=Nájera Morrondo|title=El Instituto de Salud Carlos III en el marco de la evolución de la Salud Pública|publisher=[[Instituto de Salud Carlos III]]|year=2019|location=Madrid|url=https://repisalud.isciii.es/bitstream/handle/20.500.12105/8718/ElInstitutoDeSalud_2019.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y}}</ref> prior to his execution in 1963.
* On April 15, 1966, two suspects in the so-called [[1966 alleged Ceylonese coup d'état attempt|Bathroom Coup]] in [[Sri Lanka]], Corporal Tilekawardene and L.&nbsp;V. Podiappuhamy (otherwise known as Dodampe Mudalali), were said by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) to have jumped to their deaths from the fourth floor of the CID building in the Fort. At the inquest, following receipt of new evidence, the magistrate altered the verdict of suicide to one of [[culpable homicide]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://tamilweek.com/news-features/archives/1086 |first=M.S.L. |last=Salgado |title=Dr. W.D.L. Fernando: Men of his calibre are rare |newspaper=Tamil Week |date=July 20, 2007 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101203023239/http://tamilweek.com/news-features/archives/1086 |archive-date=December 3, 2010 }}</ref> The remainder of the suspects were acquitted.
* In 1968, the son of China's future [[paramount leader]] [[Deng Xiaoping]], [[Deng Pufang]], was thrown from a window by [[Red Guards (China)|Red Guards]] during the [[Cultural Revolution]].
* In 1969, Italian [[Anarchism|Anarchist]] [[Giuseppe Pinelli]] was seen falling to his death from a fourth floor window of the Milan police station after being arrested because of claims of his involvement in the [[Piazza Fontana bombing]], of which he was later cleared.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/26/world/dispute-in-italy-is-conjuring-up-its-terrorist-past.html |title=Dispute in Italy Is Conjuring Up Its Terrorist Past |first=Celestine |last=Bohlen |date=September 26, 1997 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>
* In 1970, [[Turkish people|Turkish]] [[Idealism (Turkey)|idealist]] student [[Ertuğrul Dursun Önkuzu]] was defenestrated from the third floor of a school by a group of [[Left-wing politics|left-wing]] students in Ankara.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Işınsu, Emine.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/49377274|title=Sancı|date=1994|publisher=Ötüken|isbn=975-437-044-3|edition=13. basım|location=Beyoğlu, İstanbul|oclc=49377274}}</ref>
* In 1977, as a result of political backlash against her son [[Fela Kuti]]'s album ''[[Zombie (album)|Zombie]]'', [[Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti]] was thrown from a second-story window during a military raid by one thousand Nigerian soldiers on Kuti's compound, the [[Kalakuta Republic]]. The injuries sustained from the fall led Ransome-Kuti to lapse into a coma; she would remain in a coma for more than a year, and eventually succumb to her injuries on 13 April 1978.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.cbc.ca/arts/photoessay/protest/index14.html | title=Rebel Yells: A protest music mixtape | first=Matthew |last=McKinnon | date=August 12, 2005 | publisher=[[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]] | access-date=November 22, 2009 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100405021003/http://www.cbc.ca/arts/photoessay/protest/index14.html | archive-date=April 5, 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Agunbiade |first=Tayo |title=Remembering Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti: Nigeria’s ‘lioness of Lisabi’ |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2020/10/1/the-lioness-of-lisabi-who-ended-unfair-taxes-for-nigerian-women |access-date=2025-04-20 |website=Al Jazeera |language=en}}</ref> Ransome-Kuti's death would be commemorated in her son's protest song "Coffin for Head of State".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.treblezine.com/fela-kuti-coffin-for-head-of-state-life-death-protest-music/|title=Fela Kuti's "Coffin for Head of State" is life or death protest music|date=21 February 2020}}</ref>
* The [[2000 Ramallah lynching]] included throwing the (already-dead) body of either Vadim Nurzhitz or Yossi Avrahami out of a second-floor window, after those two Israeli soldiers had been lynched.
* On March 2, 2007, Russian [[investigative journalist]] [[Ivan Safronov]], who was researching the Kremlin's covert arms deals, fell to his death from a fifth floor window. Friends and colleagues discounted suicide as a reason, and an investigation was opened looking into possible "incitement to suicide".<ref>[http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2334908.ece Claims of 'incitement to suicide' after journalist falls to his death] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070515203256/http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2334908.ece |date=2007-05-15 }}</ref>
* In 2007 in Gaza, gunmen allegedly affiliated with [[Hamas]] killed a [[Fatah]] supporter by defenestration, an act repeated the next day when a Hamas supporter was defenestrated by alleged supporters of Fatah.<ref>Palestinian gunmen target Haniyeh's home in Gaza [[Associated Press]], 11/06/2007 {{cite web |url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/869044.html |title=Palestinian gunmen target Haniyeh's home in Gaza - Haaretz - Israel News |access-date=2008-10-04 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828140248/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/869044.html |archive-date=2008-08-28 }}</ref>
* In 2017, retired French physician and teacher Sarah Halimi [[Murder of Sarah Halimi|was killed in an attack]] on her home near Paris that ended with her being pushed from a third-floor window. Her death was widely perceived as an example of [[Islamist terrorism]] and [[Antisemitism in 21st-century France|antisemitism]]. Her assailant was ruled to be not criminally responsible due to having committed the act in a [[Bouffée délirante|psychotic episode]] brought on by his heavy use of [[cannabis]].
* On September 1, 2022, [[Ravil Maganov]], a Russian businessman who criticized the country's [[2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine|invasion of Ukraine]], died after falling from a window of [[Moscow Central Clinical Hospital|a hospital in Moscow]] on the same day the hospital was visited by Russian President [[Vladimir Putin]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.yahoo.com/russian-executive-lukoil-ravil-maganov-dead-moscow-window-133254698.html |title=Russian oil executive dies after falling from Moscow window: Reports |work=[[Yahoo! News]] |first1=Alexander |last1=Nazaryan |date=September 1, 2022|access-date=September 1, 2022}}</ref> Some people who knew Maganov well said his death was unlikely to have been a suicide, and some media hypothesized a connection with various other [[Suspicious deaths of Russian businesspeople (2022–2024)|suspicious deaths of Russian businesspeople]] occurring around the same time.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2022-09-01 |title=Top Russian oil official dies after fall from hospital window |agency=[[Reuters]]|work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/chairman-russian-oil-producer-lukoil-dies-after-falling-hospital-window-source-2022-09-01/ |access-date=2022-09-01 |archive-date=1 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220901161501/https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/chairman-russian-oil-producer-lukoil-dies-after-falling-hospital-window-source-2022-09-01/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
* In October 2024, Mikhail Rogachev, a Russian businessman and former vice president of [[Yukos]], was found dead after falling out of the window of his apartment building.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Staff |first=Our Foreign |date=2024-10-20 |title=Former Russian oil executive found dead after 'fall' |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/10/20/russia-yukos-oil-executive-oligarch-mikhail-rogachev-dead/ |access-date=2024-10-21 |work=The Telegraph |issn=0307-1235}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Naylor |first=Aliide |date=2024-10-20 |title=Oil boss's tenth-floor fall is latest in strange Russian deaths |url=https://www.thetimes.com/world/europe/article/mikhail-rogachev-russia-window-fall-mdw3l5lhq |access-date=2024-10-21 |website=[[The Times]]}}</ref>

=== Notable autodefenestrations ===
{{For|the suicide method of jumping from height, out of a window|Autodefenestration}}
[[File:Défenestration.jpg|thumb|A stuntman diving out a window]]
''Autodefenestration'' (or ''self-defenestration'') is the term used for the act of [[jumping]], propelling oneself, or causing oneself to fall, out of a window. 
* In the [[Acts of the Apostles]] in the [[New Testament]], the accidental autodefenestration of a young man of [[Alexandria Troas|Troas]] named [[Eutychus]] is recorded. The [[Apostle Paul]] was travelling to [[Jerusalem]] and had stopped for seven days in Troas. While Paul was preaching in a third-story room late on a Sunday night to the local assembly of Christian believers, Eutychus drifted off to sleep and fell out of the window in which he was sitting. The text indicates that Eutychus did not survive but was brought back to life after Paul embraced him. ({{Sourcetext|source=Bible|version=King James|book=Acts|chapter=20|verse=6|range=–12}})
*In December 1840, [[Abraham Lincoln]] and four other Illinois legislators jumped out of a window in a political maneuver designed to prevent a [[quorum]] on a vote that would have eliminated the Illinois State Bank.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Evon |first1=Dan |title=Did Abraham Lincoln Jump Out a Window to Prevent a Quorum? |url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/abraham-lincoln-window-quorum/ |website=Snopes |access-date=17 January 2023|date=15 July 2021}}</ref>
*During the [[Revolutions of 1848 in the German states|Revolutions of 1848]], an agitated crowd forced their way into the town hall in [[Cologne]] and two city councilors panicked and jumped out of the window; one of them broke both his legs. The event went down in the city's history as the "Cologne Defenestration".<ref>{{cite news |first=Manfred |last=Demmer |url=http://www.nrhz.de/flyer/beitrag.php?id=12219 |title=Der 'Kölner Fenstersturz' 1848 |newspaper=Neue Rheinische Zeitung |date=2008-03-26 |language=de |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402152854/http://www.nrhz.de/flyer/beitrag.php?id=12219 |archive-date=2015-04-02 }}</ref>
*In 1961, while being arrested by communist secret service Polish activist [[Henryk Holland]] jumped out of window, which led to his death. This event was then widely discussed by dissidents and theories of a possible murder were popular.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Persak |first=Krzysztof |title=Sprawa Henryka Hollanda |publisher=Instytut Pamięci Narodowej |year=2006 |isbn=978-83-60464-06-9}}</ref>
* In 1991, British informer [[Martin McGartland]] was abducted by members of the [[Provisional IRA]]. As he waited to be interrogated, McGartland escaped the IRA by jumping from a third floor window in a [[Twinbrook, Belfast|Twinbrook]] flat where he was taken for interrogation following his abduction, and survived the fall.
* On July 9, 1993, the prominent [[Toronto]] attorney [[Death of Garry Hoy|Garry Hoy]] fell from a 24th story window in an attempt to demonstrate to a group of new legal interns that the windows of the city's [[Toronto-Dominion Centre]] were unbreakable. He performed the same stunt on several previous occasions – dramatically slamming his body against the window – but this time it popped out of its frame and he fell to his death. The accident was commemorated by a 1996 [[Darwin Award]] and has been re-enacted in several films and television shows.<ref>{{cite web | first1=Barbara |last1=Mikkelson |first2=David P. |last2=Mikkelson| title=Through a Glass, Quickly | url=http://www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/window.asp| work=Snopes| date=21 January 2007| access-date=5 September 2011}}</ref><ref name=GM031407>{{cite news| first=Jaquie| last=McNish| title=Law firm Goodman and Carr shutting down| work=The Globe and Mail| date=14 March 2007| access-date=2011-09-08| url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/law-firm-goodman-and-carr-shutting-down/article747414/| url-status=live| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121026031938/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/law-firm-goodman-and-carr-shutting-down/article747414/| archive-date=26 October 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | first1=Barbara | last1=Mikkelson | first2=David P. | last2=Mikkelson | title=1996 Darwin Awards: Lawyer Aloft | url=http://darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin1996-01.html | work=Darwin Awards | date=1996 | access-date=5 September 2011 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110903071056/http://www.darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin1996-01.html | archive-date=3 September 2011 }}</ref>
*In 1995, the French philosopher [[Gilles Deleuze]] jumped from his Paris apartment to his death.<ref>{{cite web | last=Marzoni | first=Andrew | title=The Philosophical Leftovers of Gilles Deleuze | website=The Nation | date=2020-08-03 | url=https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/gilles-deleuze-letters-other-texts/ | access-date=2022-03-11}}</ref>
*In 1999, popular German Schlager singer [[Rex Gildo]] committed suicide by jumping out of the window of his apartment building.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1999-10-27 |title=Nach dem Selbstmordversuch: Rex Gildo ist tot |language=de |work=[[Der Spiegel]] |url=https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/nach-dem-selbstmordversuch-rex-gildo-ist-tot-a-49431.html |access-date=2022-09-01 |issn=2195-1349}}</ref>
*In 2001, at least [[Casualties of the September 11 attacks#Deaths by jumping or falling|104 people]] jumped out of the [[Twin Towers (New York City)|Twin Towers]] on [[September 11 attacks|9/11]].

== In popular culture ==
* In his poem ''Defenestration'', [[Richard Percival Lister|R. P. Lister]] wrote with amusement about the creation of so exalted a word for so basic a concept. The poem narrates the thoughts of a philosopher undergoing defenestration. As he falls, the philosopher considers why there should be a particular word for the experience, when many equally simple concepts do not have specific names. In an evidently ironic commentary on the word, Lister has the philosopher summarize his thoughts with, "I concluded that the incidence of logodaedaly was purely [[Wiktionary:adventitious|adventitious]]."<ref>Liser, R. P. ''Defenestration''; [[The New Yorker]], 16 September 1956.</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor-first=J. M.|editor-last=Cohen|title=Yet more comic and curious verse|publisher=Penguin Books|year=1959}}{{page needed|date=July 2020}}</ref>
* There is a range of hacker witticisms referring to "defenestration". For example, the term is sometimes used humorously among [[Linux]] users to describe the act of removing [[Microsoft Windows]] from a computer.<ref>{{cite book |first=Eric S. |last=Raymond |title=The New Hacker's Dictionary |publisher=MIT Press |date=1996 |isbn=978-0-262-68092-9 |page=147}}</ref>
* The indie video game developer Suspicious Developments has released three games (''[[Gunpoint (video game)|Gunpoint]]'', ''[[Heat Signature (video game)|Heat Signature]]'', and ''[[Tactical Breach Wizards]]'') with a focus on throwing enemies out of windows. After releasing Tactical Breach Wizards in 2024, the developers have started referring to these three games as their "Defenestration Trilogy".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Green |first1=Jarrett |title=Tactical Breach Wizards Review |url=https://www.ign.com/articles/tactical-breach-wizards-review |website=IGN |publisher=IGN Entertainment, Inc. |access-date=29 August 2024|date=19 August 2024}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Defenestration}}
*{{Wiktionary-inline|defenestration}}

[[Category:17th-century neologisms]]
[[Category:Windows]]
[[Category:Homicide]]
[[Category:Falling]]
[[Category:Execution methods]]
[[Category:Suicide by jumping]]