a prophetess and Dutch religious figure, one of the leaders of the Zwijndrechtse nieuwlichters (Zwijndrecht New Lighters), a religious community with communist features which opposed social conventions. With Stoffel Muller, a barge skipper, she founded Zwijndrechtse nieuwlichters, and along with assistance from Dirk Valk, a Waddinxveen bailiff. Maria Leer was born in 1788 in Edam, the daughter of Pieter Jansse Leer (originally from Holstein) and Anna Geertruy Gunthers (from Quakenbrück), both German Lutherans. She was the fifth of six children, and her father and mother died when she was a child. She grew up in the orphanage for poor children in Edam and received some schooling to prepare her for a position as a domestic servant.
