Which event is most directly linked to the defenestration occurring in 1618?

The event most directly linked to the defenestration that occurred in 1618 is the Thirty Years' War. This act of throwing several officials out of a window in Prague was a pivotal moment that escalated tensions between Protestant and Catholic factions within the Holy Roman Empire. It directly reflected the deeper religious and political conflicts that characterized the period leading to the Thirty Years' War. This war was fundamentally about the struggle between Protestant states and Catholic states in Europe, and the defenestration served as a catalyst, igniting widespread violence and conflict that would engulf much of the continent for the next three decades.

The other events mentioned, while significant in their own right, do not have a direct connection to the specific incident of the defenestration. The end of the Spanish Inquisition, the rise of Protestantism, and the signing of the Magna Carta occur within the same broader historical context but are not causally related to the defenestration incident in 1618 that precipitated the Thirty Years’ War.