Robert Cochrane

Robert Cochrane lived in the reign of King James III of Scotland. There exists a good deal of controversy about him, and some broader issues about the reign of James III.

Traditional view

The traditional view is that he was the favourite of the weak and dilettante King James III of Scotland, and enjoyed a decade long tenure as the powerful potentate of the realm in the 1470s. In a Machiavellian manner, he ruled Scotland behind the throne, never hesitating when it came to maintaining his personal prerogatives. He was as sharp and cold as polished steel, and extremely vain. Yet, Cochrane and his king fostered and encouraged a miniature Scottish Renaissance. His downfall would be the result of the manipulations of avaricious nobles determined to preserve their archaic powers and quixotic ideals.

His civilian profession was that of an architect, or, as the nobility disdainfully labelled him, a mason. Cochrane developed an intimate relationship with King James, due to their shared fondness for the arts and natural sciences. Cochrane was the leader of a coterie of sagacious and practical types that ingratiated themselves into the favour of the Scottish monarch. Among these were a musician, an astronomer, a blacksmith, a tailor, and a fencing master. These sapient men presided over an inchoate flourishing of Scottish culture and intellect that would fully blossom during the reign of King James IV of Scotland. But rivals and enemies Cochrane possessed in abundance, though extolled by the king. His influence was resented by the Scottish nobility, nearly all of whom openly longed and worked for his downfall. Among other things, it was alleged Cochrane and the king dabbled in alchemy and witchcraft. King James preferred the company of intelligent yet humble men such as himself, as opposed to the belligerent, fractious, and uncouth knights and orgulous nobles that had caused him much grief in his youth.

Cochrane took advantage of the assertive deficiencies and vagaries of King James to make himself a wealthy and powerful man, ultimately being created the Earl of Mar. Taking advantage of the King's regard for astrology, Cochrane quickly edified himself in James's eyes. He became the second most powerful man in Scotland, next to the king, and assembled his own private force of retainers. Cochrane was named commander of the King's artillery. But, because he was born a commoner, he was almost universally detested by the nobles, who resented being forced to grovel before him in a most sordid manner. King James, Cochrane, and their court of intellectuals quickly became most unpopular in Scotland amongst the whole population. The aristocracy wished to remove King James III and place one of his younger brothers upon the throne (the Earls of Albany and Mar), both of whom were paragons of chivalry and manhood, quite unlike the irenic and studious king. In fact, the nobles were most disgusted with the plebian dominated and culturally oriented administration in general, feeling the King and his favorites should occupy themselves with manly pursuits like hunting, jousting, and waging war, instead of the arts and sciences. James III was no one's idea of a gallant monarch. Sharing none of the king's passions, the more ambitious nobles were upset over their inability to gain the favor of the king and thus receive privileges, and thus soon began to surreptitiously conspire against Cochrane and his friends.

Sensing that the wilful patricians would soon rise up against the regime of King James and attempt to place either of the king's brothers upon the Scottish throne, Cochrane moved quickly against his enemies. Cochrane convinced the ultra-superstitious King James that his the Earls of Albany and Mar were in the company of witches and incubi, and that they would soon summon spirits to cause his death. Though the gentle King fraternally loved his brothers, he succumbed to Cochrane's machinations and ordered them seized and fettered. Though Alexander, the Earl of Albany escaped to France soon after incarceration, John, the young Earl of Mar was captured and tossed into the dank dungeon of Craigmillar Castle, where he was soon after slain on the orders of Cochrane, given vicariously through King James III. Cochrane was invested with the dead Earl's titles and lands.

Robert Cochrane quickly became unpopular with the masses of Scotland as well. Cochrane was given royal permission to mint his own coins with his own image, and these would be legal tender. However, the coins he minted were debased, i.e. made of mixed copper and silver. Wanting to avoid inflation, the middle class and bourgeoisie refused to tender them, and they demanded of the King that the coins be recalled. Their requests were repeatedly refused. The sybaritic and rococo nature of Cochrane's entourage and dress{he was bejewelled and wore silk finery daily), drew reproach from the unpretentious and plain Scottish people. Cochrane and James were also looked upon with suspicion and fear by the renownedly devout peasantry, because of the fecund rumors of witchcraft and bizarre perversions supposedly held at their court. Cochrane was held by some to be a warlock who cultivated black magic. His personal religion is unclear. Though a nominal and professed Catholic, most likely he was an agnostic. However, the consensus among much of the populace was that he was a heretic and neglectful and deleterious towards the Catholic Church, holding only corporeal interests. Considering the religious passion and fervor of the Scots of the time, the pleasures and interests of Cochrane, King James, and their court were baleful anomalies of their time, most dolefully.

The downfall of Cochrane came amidst war with England. As captain of artillery, he accompanied the Scottish army of James III, who was preparing to do battle with the forces of his brother Alexander, the Earl of Albany. With the support of King Edward IV of England, Albany had invaded Scotland with intent to usurp the throne in 1482. The nobles who accompanied the army of James III saw their opportunity to deal with their arch-rival Cochrane, based on their relative proximity. It has been suggested and assumed that the nobility was in agreement with Albany to carry out their flagitious deed. The cabal of aristocrats met clandestinely in Lauder Church to plot. Led by Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Angus, they agreed that they must "bell the cat". After James had privately refused to hand over Cochrane and his favorites in a series of parleys kept confidential from Cochrane, the enraged nobles decided to use force to end the influence of the upstart commoners. Commencing a revolt in which they would temporarily depose the docile King James and install "King Alexander IV", they fell upon Cochrane and his friends by surprise and vengefully subdued them before they had a chance to resist.

The commoner favorites of King James III were handled most roughly by the Scottish Nobles. James was helpless to save his favorites, save a young boy whose life he pleaded for, as the King too was now a prisoner of the conspirators. The indignant nobles had become most irate at James due to his reluctance to cooperate with their plans against Cochrane. Cochrane and 24 of his once exalted friends were dragged to Lauder Bridge, where they were hanged disgracefully with nooses of horsehair, like common criminals. They were hanged in a row from the rafters under the bridge roof, with Cochrane in the center. The misfortune of pedestrian birth was enough cause for the blue-bloods to treat the "upstarts" harshly. Though the Earl of Angus and the nobles accused the favorites of "misdeeds" and high crimes against the Scottish people, they really suffered dirgefully and died merely because they were commoners and had interests and pleasures alien to the coarse and bellicose nobility. The debased coinage Cochrane issued was called in. The hanging of Cochrane ushered in a resurgence of aristocratic power in Scotland. Some viewed the death of Cochrane as martyrdom, and many lamented in a lachrymose fashion for him.

The legacy of Robert Cochrane is manifold. During his de facto rule, the arts,sciences, engineering, astronomy, and architecture all prospered in Scotland. He is the designer of the great hall of Stirling Castle. It is believed the exalting of Cochrane by King James III built up a culture of respect amongst the gentry for the profession of masonry, which would evolve many years later into the fraternity of Freemasonry.

Revisionist views

In recent decades much of this has been questioned. Some historians have been more sympathetic to James III, seeing him as a cultured man in the rugby club atmosphere of the Scottish nobility at that time, and defended him against some criticisms. However it has also been suggested that James was a homosexual, and these "favourites of low birth" were his homosexual partners.

The leading Scottish historian Norman Macdougall has come out with a revisionist biography of James III. In it he argues that, far from being a weak king, he was actually something of a tyrant, and dismissed the "favourites of low birth" as the invention of chroniclers in the next century who did not know what they were on about. He argues that all we can say for sure is that James had some dealings with an architect or mason called Robert or William Cochrane, the rest is later invention.

References

* Macdougall, Norman "James the Third"
* Ashley, Mike (1998) "British Kings and Queens". New York. Caroll and Graf Publishers.
*H. E. Marshall (1968) "Scotland's Story". London and Edinburgh. Thomas Nelson (Printers) Ltd.