Fide Church

In Fide church on Gotland, built in the 13th century, there is a depiction of Christ with an inscription that has been interpreted as a description of the devastation caused by Valdemar: “eDes sVCCense gens Ceca DoLens rVIt ense”, in English something along the lines of “The houses are on fire, a suffering people cut down”. The text is a quote from the Book of Lamentations in the Old Testament.

The capital letters form a code in Roman numerals – DVCCCDLVI – which, if read number by number (or letter by letter), reads:
500 + 5 + 100 + 100 + 100 + 500 + 50 + 5 + 1 = 1361

In the 1990s, an inscription was found in Vadstena that was a continuation of the one from Fide. In a transcript from the 15th century, it says: “… see the likeness of a dog come rampaging with swords, and Gotland is conquered by Danes”.