Second Defenestration Of Prague

Engraving shows the so-called 'Second Defenestration of Prague' when enraged local rebels threw two Imperial governors, Jaroslav von Martinitz and William Slawata, and a scribe out the windows of the Hradcany Palace, May 23, 1618. The rebel group includes four lords and a knight; Wilhelm von Lobkowitz, Albrect Smiricky, Ulrich Kinsky, Litwin von Rican, and Paul Kaplir. The officials landed in a pile of manure and were not seriously injured. The incident touched of the first phase of the Thirty Years War in which local Protestant populations and rulers fought against the central and Catholic authority of the Holy Roman Emperor. By the end of the war, however, religious concerns had been pushed aside by various territorial aims. (Image from the Kean Collection/Getty Images)