From "William's Sword" Those who had hoisted it said it was not only the most beautiful sword ever made, but the most comfortable in the hand. The unusually deep fuller reduced the weight added by its length, and the balance was said to be impeccable. Thus it was, after the chaotic dance of Anglish succession that played out across Europe for all of 1066, 9,000 pairs of Norman eyes looked up to Telham Hill to watch William lift the magnificent sword high into the morning air, its gold catching the first ray of sun arching over the vast European continent and reflecting it back, like a minute and iridescent meteor foretelling some great event, into the heart of the Dark Ages. Resting a moment, the sword suddenly relinquished the light it had not yet earned, and swept back down into the dark broth of the morning, setting fifteen thousand feet and ten thousand hoofs into a slow, measured, march toward Senlac Hill and, over the next millennium, the New World beyond it.