Those Democratic Bastards

EDMUND: Why bastard? wherefore base?
When my dimensions are as well compact,
My mind as generous, and my shape as true,
As honest madam’s issue? Why brand they us
With base? with baseness? bastardy? base, base?

- King Lear, Act I Scene ii

If both popular culture and history have a short-hand for a villain, it’s calling him a bastard.