This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
"there was and is no such thing as a hereditary coat of arms"
Actually, in English heraldry, coats of arms are inherited by the eldest son. There's no such thing as a family coat of arms. I do believe this inheritance would be baton sinister and all.
"Besides, the only illegitimate persons high enough in rank to receive a coat of arms would be sons and daughters of senior members of the royal family,"
Hmm. All sorts of people can become armigerous, and at least today I don't think illegitimacy is held against them. Of course, whether there are many who would adopt their father's arms differenced for illegitimacy is another matter.
Some Sort Of Troper: Why does this page have no examples?
Some Sort Of Troper: OK, so out of interest I went to The Other Wiki, there is an example of the Duke of Grafton being the bastard son of Charles II and so the heriditary coat of arms contains a baton sinister. That';s about it so I'm not sure how much it impacts on the Did Not Do The Research deal. That could be the only non-fictional example which happened to give Walter Scott the idea. Lot's of other places say he just invented it.
For a fictional example, there is Underdog villain, Simon Bar Sinister- potentially a Stealth Pun.
