Reign of James II (Fidei Defensor)

The Reign of James II/V finally completed what had been started by his father taking the crown of England. His creation of a united kingdom of the island, and ultimately of the whole Isles signaled the start of an era of expansion for the new British Crown. At last the people of the Isles had the power and unity to contend toe-to-toe with their brothers on the mainland. Just like his father had, James II came onto the throne with a great deal of wealth tucked away, but he had the added advantage of having an income twice that of James I. His efforts to stimulate the growths of both the English economy and population officially solidified his country's position as the newest Great Power to arrive on the European scene.

Something Lost, Something Gained (1525-1532)
Unlike the previous succession, the change from James I to James II was as normal as any succession should be. The old king died on November 16, 1525 and his successor was crowned November 21, just days after the burial in Westminster Abbey. As the king was only 13 years old, it was decided that for the next three years his mother was to rule in his place as regent, as by that time it was believed he would be prepared for the duties of the kingship. As James father spent a great deal of his time training the boy for the position, the court was not disappointed. Just prior to his official taking on of his duties in 1528, James had his wedding with the otherwise undistinguished Spanish noblewoman, Alejandra.

By this time Thomas More had become Lord Chancellor of England and was already encouraging the new king to continue the reforms of his father. James for his part did not feel that the countries were ready yet and that the Scottish Parliament would almost certainly be opposed to it. In order to sway them over, he decided to show Scotland how much a union with England could benefit them by convincing the English Parliament to spend some of its money building mines in Scotland. He and More then returned to Scotland to give the members of the House of Commons a banquet prior to bringing forward the bill.

When it was finally brought forward to both Parliaments in 1530, a majority in both Houses in England were in favor of it. However, opposition in the House of Lords blocked the vote. James of course could have potentially nullified this, or even swayed the vote more, but he knew that only a rightfully unified country could stay together, and so he resisted doing so. For the time being James was set on getting the bill passed in both countries, and he went through great lengths to get this done. For the time being, he accepted defeat and brought other matters to his attention.

In international politics, the alliances of the Holy League were falling apart. The Papal States had realized that bringing in an imperial power to stop another one was probably not in their best interests, a warning that many had ignored from a certain Machiavelli, and so by 1526 Pope Clement VII was already working on building alliances with the Italian States around him in order to maintain his defenses. James, who remembered how highly his father had spoken of the open mindedness of this Pope, was quick to also come to his defense in 1528. Fortunately, Clement had changed his mind about perhaps going back to supporting the French and the tenuous situation never led to war.

When the scientist, Johann Widmanstetter, gave a lecture on the Copernican system of the planets, which was growing in popularity, to the Pope, Clement was so happy that he gave Johann several valuable gifts. This came into importance during the later years of the Pope. For the time being, his primary concern was maintaining his safety from other more powerful rulers. As the strongest foreign supporter of the Pope, James was called over to Rome in 1530 to help the Pope out of the sticky situation he was in. The League of Cognac had just been declared, allying all the free-states of Northern Italy and many people abroad were worried that Charles would take this as positioning for war. James, somewhat stressed by being put on the spot, replied as sincerely as possible that Clement should use his Papal authority to definitively protect himself. Wanting to get on the good side of the English, as they had three electors in the College, all of the Cardinals agreed with this stipulation. Fearful for his own life, and the lives of his people in Rome and family in Florence, he issued a papal bull in 1532 that stated that for "any foreign armies" to enter a specifically defined zone (roughly equivalent to Papal territory at the time) was a "violation of the sanctity of the Church". At this the League of Cognac was disbanded and all thoughts that Charles might have had about invading Italy were completely out of the question. Him, the Holy Roman Emperor of all people would not want to commit something that other countries would see as sacrilege, he'd become the most hated man in Europe if he did that.

A New Nation (1533-1550)
Scotland wasn't the only region where James was funding new mines, the rich region of middle England, near Wales was also an important area for industrial expansion. What the king hoped was that England would soon have enough access to metals that it would be able to field and maintain an even larger fleet of ships. He did in part succeeded in this, but more importantly, his creation of the Royal Mining Company in 1529 was now bringing in huge revenues to the crown, raising his income to about £240,000 a year and rising. His desire for new ships was driven by a new interest of the English for the New World. In 1526, Parliament authorized for the explorer John Rut to travel to the mixed settlement of St. John in the north and scout it out in the hopes of future colonization. When James finally received power, he commissioned for Rut to return to the settlement, this time followed by two more ships full of English colonists.

By 1536 more than 6,000 Englishmen had settled in St. John and by an act of both Parliaments and the king, Rut declared St. John as the first English-Scottish overseas colony under Royal Charter, and so John Rut became first Governor of the newly declared territory of Terra Nova. Boosted by his latest accomplishments, James returned once again to Edinburgh to try and pass his bill for the uniting of both England and Scotland. To his amazement, all four Houses of the Isles had now agreed to the union and immediately, and Lord Chancellors Thomas More and Gavin Dunbar officially signed the Treaty of Union in early January. The treaty became official on October 26 with the passing of the Acts of Union of 1537 by both Parliaments, per the conditions of the treaty. The next day, James officially declared the foundation of the Kingdom of Great Britain.

This was not the end of the king's efforts however, and a great deal was still left to be done before the position was solidified. First, in February 1538 the new Parliament of Great Britain, whose members were 25% Scottish, 3% Welsh and 72% English, signed the Union of the Armies Act that officially created the British Army, a non-standing army that could have soldiers recruited at any time by an act of Parliament. Until the end of 1538, more bills were passed officially declaring various aspects of the new country, including officially making the Palace of Westminster the only Parliament complex, the British pound sterling the only currency, the Union Jack the only flag and the Stewart Dynasty the only monarchy with a rightful claim to the current Kingdom.

To complete his father's dream of uniting the entire British Isles, James only had one more target, Ireland. Although a small plot of land called the Pale was already under British control, and the British monarch was technically "Lord of Ireland", virtually the entire island was still tribally controlled by minor clans and tiny monarchs in a constant state of feud. Nominally though, Thomas Fitzgerald, 10th Earl of Kildare was the official feudal lord of Ireland as the vassal of the English crown. However, his open rebellion in 1536, following unfounded rumors that his father had been executed in London, were the last straw for James.

In 1538, Parliament created the first British Army unit in preparation of the coming invasion of Ireland. The invasion force of 25,000 men, armed with 3,000 muskets, arrived in the Pale in late December of that same year. Once winter was over they set out to travel the Irish countryside and visit the major cities in order to rout Fitzgerald and his army. There were sporadic conflicts between the two forces and slowly but surely Thomas' forces were worn away by the British troops. By 1539 he surrendered to James in the hopes that he could receive a royal pardon, or that even the courts would acquit him. Unfortunately for him he was charged with treason and when brought before the Star Chamber, sentenced to execution. With the last enemy military force in Ireland taken care of, James went to Parliament to have himself crowned King of Ireland, by the Crown of Ireland Act of 1540. He however did not yet declare Ireland as a part of the Kingdom of Great Britain as this would necessitate adding Irish members to the British Parliament and many at the time feared that this would cause terrible division there. The Irish Parliament did remain in place though and continued to be used by the king when he wanted to raise or lower taxes there, or put into place other laws that only applied to Ireland.