On 10 July 1507, Louis asked Cockburn to request 4,000 Scottish troops to assist in the defence of the French possession, the Duchy of Milan.

In October James replied that he would send military support if warned in advance, and Cockburn was instructed to discuss another project.

Regent Albany, having left Scotland for France, was still influential and his Dunbar Castle strongly fortified, while Cockburn's ride to England had brought him enemies.

[3] A letter by Robert, as Bishop of Ross, in recommendation of Symphorien Champier, a doctor of medicine at Lyon and the personal physician of Antoine, Duke of Lorraine, was published in the compendium Que in hoc opusculo habentur: Duellum Epistolare, et, Item Complures Illustrium Virorum Epistolae ad Symphorianum Camperium, Venice/Lyons (1519).

The book discusses the French rights to the Duchy of Milan, the object of the requests for military aid carried by Cockburn.