The Defenstration of Blog

If you know me, you probably know about my propensity to tell long, boring, exhausting stories about the simplest of subjects, just to make your eyes roll. My two "big finishers" are the story about how Bob Seger came up with the song "Night Moves" and the Defenestration of Prague.

So Paul Hanlon forwarded me a link from CNN the other day in which Webster's Dictionary reported its Top Ten online searched words for 2004. #1 -- Blog, #10 -- Defenestration..... Defenestration???? Of the thousands and thousands of visits to Merriam-Webster.com, the tenth-most searched word was "defenestration"? Odd, but not unrealistic.

THE DEFENESTRATION OF PRAGUE, Part 1 The Game's Afoot

Did you know that the events (including the Defenestration itself) leading up to the 30-Years War actually took about 200 years to develop? Yessir, yes indeed. In the late 1300's there was this man of the times, Jan Hus, who had a problem with the Catholic Church. He didn't like how they operated. He wrote letters -- angry letters saying you couldn't buy your way into heaven. He had quite the following because of this. The letters and the follow got the notice of the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire who invited Jan Hus to talk things over.

THE DEFENESTRATION OF PRAGUE, Part 2 Trouble in the Forest

So Jan Hus decides to go visit the Emperor but is ambushed! He's arrested and brought before the church to testify! He's given no chance and ultimately burned at the stake.

THE DEFENESTRATION OF PRAGUE, Part 3 Those Crazy Hussites

So Jan Hus's follower -- the Hussites make a big stink. Big enough for the Austrian Empire to take over and rule over Bohemia for the next two hundred years.

THE DEFENESTRATION OF PRAGUE, Part 4 Get to the Damn Defenstration

So the Austrians have two viceroys in Prague, ruling over everyone. One day, in the early 17th century, a couple crazy Bohemians run up the town of the viceroys' castle and throw them out the window -- into a pile of manure. There you go, DEFENESTRATION.

THE DEFENESTRATION OF PRAGUE, Epilogue

Something about 30 years of bloody war, face of Europe forever changed, German militancy born, something, something, rise of facism a few hundred years later, blah blah, no more defenestrations.

Feel free to ask me about "Night Moves".