Once upon a time in medieval England, there was a young king who would do just about anything for his favorite night.

They were inseparable.

With love at the front of a king's mind, instead of war or ambition, you'd think the kingdom would be in for a golden

era of peace. But England is headed for the most catastrophic collapse seen for hundreds of

years. The saga continues, Join me Dan Jones on This is History, a Dynasty to

Die for. Available wherever you get your podcasts. It's a thousand years ago and a bald eagle soars over what is referred to nowadays in

southern Illinois as the American bottom.

Imagine yourself in flight.

You fly west, beyond the prairie towards the Mississippi River.

The landscape below transforms from wilderness to turned soils and tilled fields.

Lofting over a ridge, you see burial mounds below.

The great flat floodplain spreads itself wide.

The land becomes a patchwork of fields, farms, and small houses. On the distant horizon, there's a confluence of

Great Rivers, the Illinois, the Missouri,

uniting with the Mississippi, giant water glittering in the sun.

And there is a city, a teeming settlement, a sight to be seen.

Smoke plumes through the air.

Music is heard on the wind.

The place is built by design.

Its great plazas and thoroughfares laid out to mirror the celestial

order of the sky. Massive earth and structures tower over them, topped by

decorative ceremonial buildings.

...