Reign of James I (Fidei Defensor)

The Reign of James I/IV was one of the most prosperous times the English people had experienced in all their history up to that point. He came onto the throne at a good time for the Isles, and with the wealth left behind by his greedy father-in-law, he was well prepared to make even grander reforms than he had done in Scotland. His ultimate goal however, the union of the nations of Scotland and England into Great Britain, did not occur during his reing. In his defense though, his reforms laid the foundations for the union and put Parliament in such a position that during the reign of his son it would have been impossible to deny it. James I was arguably one of the most popular monarchs in history, loved by the people, the nobility, other monarchs and most importantly, the Pope.

Consolidation (1509)
Although James had won the hearts of the nobility with his reduction in the powers of the Star Chamber, his desire to make a good first impression was still not finished. In late-June the King had an act proposed that would allow the Lord High Chancellor to call a Parliament into session. When the Act of Calling Parliament was accepted almost unanimously in both houses on July 5, the growth in monarchical power that seemed so strong in Henry's day seemed to be coming to a close. James still reserved the power to call Parliament however, and still reserved the power to veto the call of the Lord Chancellor. Nevertheless, it was very much celebrated amongst the members of both houses. In order to not leave the House of Commons out to dry, James also ordered for substantial reconstruction of St. Stephen's Chapel to complete its conversion into the Chamber of the House of Commons. The work on the Chapel was finally completed in 1514.

To the great pleasure of the people of London, four weeks after his coronation he decreed that every man in the city was entitled to £2 each, from his personal funds (the £1.25 million he inherited from Henry, plus several hundred thousand of his own). As the city's population at the time was only around 44,000, and out of that there were only about 20,000 people eligible, it was not too much of a problem for him. Its effect on the level of happiness in the city was remarkable however, especially since he had now really set himself apart from the avaricious Henry VII.

There were two major figures who emerged in these first years of James I. The first was Thomas Wolsey, the former Royal Champlain and now the Almoner of James I. His intelligence was admired by the reigning monarch and Wolsey was one of those people who became very close with the King, something made particularly easy for him as he was a member of James' Privy Council. It was in fact Wolsey who advised for James to make his generous £2 donations, a testament to how good an impression he made on the monarch. Also in the King's first year, Wolsey persuaded him to reduce taxation on the poor to 3/4ths what they had been under Henry VII, something which solidified the sincerity of his prior donations.

The second figure was Edward Howard, a naval officer and son of the same Lord High Treasurer who dislike the king. Edward was already a prominent member of the nobility, he was a Howard after all, but it was under James I which he really made a name for himself. He succeeded John de Vere as Lord High Admiral of England in 1510, under James' campaign of stopping members of Parliament from having more than one position, and was selected to lead most mainland or overseas expeditions by the King. Both these roles brought him into the forefront of political intrigue later on.

Before the year was done James had the rest of the Scottish treasury brought down from Edinburgh and officially began the business of running two countries at once. To alleviate some of the problems of sending messengers back and forth between him and his Scottish Privy Council, James ordered for a massive roadway, more than 8 meters across, to be built between London and Edinburgh, starting in November 1509. The 540 kilometer road was paved entirely with cobblestone along its entire length and replaced any old roads which once ran in the same direction. This had the added benefit of making travel from the South up to York easier as well and improved integration between the Scots and the English. On its completion in 1520 James dubbed it the Union Highway, reflecting its role in bringing the nations together.

Old Problems (1510-1512)
Whilst still just ruler of Scotland, but also with the knowledge that he was next in line for the English Crown, James held off his plans to rebuild several of his palaces in Edinburgh. Now that he had the crown, he was ready to start reconstruction work on his new palaces in London. In January he ordered for the Palace of Placentia to be fixed up as good as new so that it could become the principle royal household. Not even a month later, he ordered for work to be started on the Tower of London to build it into the foremost fortress in all of Europe. In total, these reconstructions cost about £22,000 (£8,800,000 in OTL 2010) and were not completed until 1516 and 1517 respectively.

By recommendation of Thomas Howard, from whom James was still trying to earn trust, the King had a maximum placed on State spending in March 1510. This ensured, assuming at least no more decreases in revenue, that the Treasury would only shrink to three quarters of what it was in 1509 over the next two decades. In order to manage this, James, against his better judgement, put greater power into the position of Lord High Treasurer and its subsidiary offices. Thomas for his part was both pleased and surprised that the King followed his advice exactly, and so one of the last major critics of the Two Crowns was silenced.

The reconstruction on the Tower however became of greater urgency when the Italian Wars suddenly spilled over into English politics. It was in June of 1511 that the Pope Julius II, now an ally rather than an enemy of the Venetians, proclaimed a Holy League against the French for their continued incursions into Italy. Naturally this meant that all Catholic nations were obliged to either ignore the matter, or more likely, declare war against the Kingdom of France.

This unfortunately was an extremely sticky situation for James. Scotland, and its government, was bound to the French by the Auld Alliance, an ancient treaty created to solidify Franco-Scot relations in the 1200's. The English Parliament, and most people from both nations, were heavily in favor of war against the French, especially as it meant supporting the Church. Immediately he returned to Edinburgh to convince the Scottish Parliament to officially annul the alliance, on the grounds that it was an old worthless agreement and the people of Scotland itself were in favor of war against France. In August he tried having the bill passed, but a minority support in the House of Lords caused it to fail. Insistent, James returned once again in November and pleaded for the peers to agree on the grounds of keeping a stable country. Ultimately, this second attempt succeeded and by December of the same year James pledged his full support to the Pope, along with his new allies, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire and the Swiss Confederacy.

The Scottish Parliament would not agree to fielding an army however and so a force of 15,000 English soldiers was all that James could get to be sent to Italy. He did however convince the Scottish Lord of the Admiralty, Andrew Barton, to lead 30 Scottish ships in the transport of men over to Italy from January to March 1512. Meanwhile, Edward Howard set off to Spain to speak at the court of Joanna the effective Queen of Spain to both escort the Scottish fleet through the Gibraltar Strait and to formalize their military alliance under the Holy League. In March he was sent to meet the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I in Prague. There the Emperor declared his allegiance to the English-Scottish Kingdoms and sent with Edward the gift of a suit of his finest armor for the King, distinguished by a disturbing mask in the form of the Emperor's face. James ended up giving it to the Scottish Lord Chamberlain Alexander Home, as thanks for eventually switching his vote in favor of the war.