In Maastricht a large number of stones have been preserved carrying a message. Usually a memory of certain persons or to keep an event alive, but sometimes a general desire for peace and prosperity is immortalised in the stone. The inscription and image of IN THE THOUSAND FEARS are taken from Matthew X:16: "Behold, I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves". This biblical motif was also frequently used elsewhere in the country in several variations, with the similarity that there was always mention of a threatened lamb and the underlying idea: if God wills, you need not be afraid, for He will protect you.
The builder of Plankstraat 4, the bargeman Dominicus Bauduin, must have thought: "Double is better", and had a chronogram applied to the lintel of the door: "eXstrVCtVM baVDUIn ConserVetVr, which contains the pious wish that this house, built by Bauduin, may be preserved.
It is noteworthy that the sculptor made a mistake in eXstrUCtUM (or it must have been a mistake on the sample sheet) and that the forgotten letter R was covertly added in a small way.
However, this does not change the arithmetic by which the year in which this house was built can be calculated. For that Latin text is a time verse, where the larger capitals also represent a numerical value.
I = 1
V and U = 5
X = 10
C = 100
D = 500
M = 1000
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