Background
Originally from Haarlem, where her father was a brewer, she followed the Anabaptist January Matthijsz van Haarlem to Münster.
Originally from Haarlem, where her father was a brewer, she followed the Anabaptist January Matthijsz van Haarlem to Münster.
January van Leiden made himself the spiritual and wordly leader of Münster and proclaimed Divara his queen. January"s other wives included Elisabeth Wandscherer, who January ordered beheaded after she publicly questioned him. Divara was given clothes, a necklace and a crown of gold, her own residence and court and presided over the distribution at the public communion of between 2,000 and 6,000 people which was held at the town square.
January van Leiden instituted polygamy and took several more wives besides Divara and Elisabeth.
(Most accounts state his total number of wives at 16) Divara gave birth to a daughter named Averall. After the fall of the town Divara was executed by decapitation along with four other women.
The opera Divara - Wasser und Blut (Water and Blood) by José Saramago and Azio Corghi was based upon her.