The Bend is a band traversing the shield aslant, arms with one, two or three bends being common during the middle ages in England. Bendy shields follow the rule of shields paly and barry, but as many as ten pieces have been counted in them. The bend is often accompanied by a narrow bend on either side, these companions being called Cotices. A single narrow bend, struck over all other charges, is the Baston, which during the 13th and 14th centuries was a common difference for the shields of the younger branches of a family, coming in later times to suggest itself as a difference for bastards.
 | |||
| Fitzalan of Bedale. | Mauley. | Harley. | Wallop. |
The Bend Sinister, the bend drawn from right to left beginning at the “sinister” corner of the shield, is reckoned in the heraldry books as a separate Ordinary, and has a peculiar significance accorded to it by novelists. Medieval English seals afford a group of examples of Bends Sinister and Bastons Sinister, but there seems no reason for taking them as anything more than cases in which the artist has neglected the common rule.
Mauley bore “Gold a bend sable.”
Harley bore “Gold a bend with two cotices sable.”
Wallop bore “Silver a bend wavy sable.”
Ralegh bore “Gules a bend indented, or engrailed, silver.”
 | |||
| Ralegh. | Tracy. | Bodrugan. | St Philibert. |
Tracy bore “Gold two bends gules with a scallop sable in the chief between the bends.”
Bodrugan bore “Gules three bends sable.”