 The varied origins of people with the Spencer and Despenser surnames means that they are not all members of the same family, and each individual family would have distinct coats of arms, while most Spencers are not entitled to bear any arms.The family of the King's Dispensers bore an "ermine" shield with "chief" of unknown "tincture".The Lords Despencer bore arms from the early days of heraldry, which are one of a family of quarterly arms seen among the vassals of the Earls of Chester.