Heraldry and kinship

I wonder whether members of the group have any ideas as to whether close
similarities in armorial bearings borne by different people in the 12th and 13th
centuries, not otherwise known to be related, are to be taken as a clue to (or
perhaps even evidence of) their kinship?

Chris Phillips...

I think similar arms could alternatively indicate a feudal relationship
between the families (though of course, there could be both a feudal
relationship and a blood relationship).

Chris Phillips

An example of what I mean can be found in the close similarity between the
arms of Whittington (Gules a fess checky or and azure) and those of the folowing
individuals, which I have borrowed from Brian Timms' remarkable heraldic
website

All the following devices appear following "checky or and azure":-
a fess gules Robert de Clifford
a fess gules Raoul de Beaugency
a fess gules Roger de Clifford
a fess gules fretty argent Robert de Cheney
on a bend gules three lions passant argent John de Clifford
on a fess gules a dexter lion rampant argent Simon de Beaugency
on a fess gules three buckles argent Hugh Deincourt
on a fess gules three cinquefoils argent Roger de Clifford
on a fess gules three lions rampant argent Geoffrey de Pitchford
on a fess gules three mullets argent Walter de Capel

Meanwhile, again from Brian Timms, we have checky or and azure (or azure and
or) with no other device or charge, borne by William and John Warenne Earls of
Surrey, Baudouin d'Usse and Mahier de Lannoy. And some Cliffords are shown
with bends, rather than fesses, gules.

It will be noticed that the Whittington arms are the precise inverse of those
of Clifford- the ones who had a fess rather than a bend.

Looking no further than the names mentioned above, is is clear that small
differences in blazonry occurred among people who were obviously closely related-
Cliffords, Beaugencys. And the Clifford/Deincourt relationship has often been
mentioned in the group. I am tempted therefore, at the risk of perpetrating
an horrendous non sequitur, to suggest that closely similar arms may indeed be
a mark of kinship. Do other contributors know better?

In the case of the Whittingtons, I do not know their provenance. They first
appear, so far as I know, when a William married the d'Aguillon heiress of
Upton Solers in Warwickshire in the mid 1200s. (They retained the manor for
another three centures in a direct male line of descent). But the Fitzwarrens were
at that time the lords of Whittington in Shropshire. I wonder whether the fess
checky was a badge of their relationship? Or perhaps of feudal dependance? It
is probable that the Pitchfords, a very ancient Shropshire family, were
dependants of the Fitzwarrens, though quite possibly not related to them in blood
(for all I know)
All suggestions gratefully received, as ever
MM