Which family motto was 'Si Deus quis contra?

Answer 1

The Latin question 'Si Deus [pro nobis], quis contra [nos]', which means 'If God [is with us], [then] who [can be] against [us]?', is the motto of the Spens family. Clan Spens/Spence is a lowland Scottish clan. The family name may find its origins as the 'custodian or dispenser of the larder'. The family origins trace back to the ancient Earls of Fife, as the highest ranking native nobles of Scotland, and the crowners of the Kings of the Scots. One of the earliest recorded references to the Spens family is in the period 1161-1171, with the listing of John Dispensator or Le Dispenser among the tenants and vassals of Walter Fitz-Alan, High Stewart of Scotland. A particularly prominent, later recorded reference is to the sitting of John Spens of Lathallan in the Parliament called by King James I [December 10, 1394-February 21, 1437] of Scotland, at Perth, in 1434. An equally prominent recorded reference is to the youngest of John's three sons, Patrick, counting among the 24 bodyguards sent by King James II [October 16, 1430-August 3, 1460] to the court of King Charles VII [February 22, 1403-July 22, 1461] of France, in 1450. On the French side of the Channel, and by way of his son Patrick, therefore, John is the direct ancestor of the prominent family of Baron de Spens d'Estignols. On the British side of the Channel, and by way of his two older sons, therefore, John is the director ancestor of all the Spens descendants in Scotland and England.