Bastards!

All through Spain noble households are marked with escudos or coat of arms. Normally the escudo is a stone carving on the main facade of the building.

Someone told me that in Ciudad Rodrigo there are lots of escudos mounted skew wiff on big houses to show that the owner of the building had not, necessarily, been born on the right side of the blanket. I have to be honest and say that this doesn't sound that likely to me. Why build a big, showy palace and then put up a banner to say "I'm a bastard"?

But I've noticed quite a few wobbly shields and it's a good story either way.