The de Mouilpied Coat of Arms that was passed down the family had the traditional ribbon spanning across the bottom. On the ribbon it says: Cingit Et Obstat. In addition, on the several copies obtained, there is in French the explanation: "Du Port, Seigneur de Mouillepie et de Boismasson". Remember we are surmising this Marquis, Lord of Mouillepie, but with the name Du Port, is the one who fled to Guernsey to set up shop and changed his name to deMouilpied. Actually very early birth and genealogy records on Guernsey show the early spelling of de Mouillepie often before the spelling was solidified. In addition, a cousin in Maine, Deborah deMoulpied (yes same name, but more distinguished than I) was told early in her child hood that the original spelling was Mouillepied. So interesting.
The Motto seems to not be from modern typical French, perhaps from old Occitan French or partially Latin. It certainly is several hundred years old which would fit in with the time frame of the late 1500's.
After much researching, obstat comes up more frequently to mean "obstacle, one to interfere". That makes pretty good sense if you were a knight or Marquis defending an area.
Cingit on the other hand has been very difficult to find. The only translation I can come up with is the word "scathing". I suppose this also makes sense if you were in the business of being a Marquis.
The colors of the shield also might mean something, they had to have chosen them for a reason. Blue typically means strength and loyalty and silver means peace - interesting combination.
If anyone can find out more, please let us all know!
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