MAULE, a surname of Norman origin, assumed from the town and lordship of Maule in France, which, for four centuries, belonged to the lords of that name. In the army of William the Conqueror, on his invasion of England in 1066, was Guarin de Maule, a younger son of Arnold, lord of Maule. From the Conqueror, besides other lands, he obtained the lordship of Hatton, in Cleveland, Yorkshire. One of his sons, Robert de Maule, attached himself to David, earl of Cumberland, afterwards David I., who was educated at the English court, and accompanying him into Scotland, received a grant of lands in Mid Lothian. He died about 1120 The eldest of his three sons, William de Maule of Fowlis in Perthshire, was at the battle of the Standard in 1138, but died without male issue. The second son, Roger de Maule, was the progenitor of the Maules of Panmure. The marriage of his daughter Cecilia to Walter de Ruthven brought the barony of Fowlis into the Gowrie family, of which her husband was the ancestor.

Roger de Maule’s grandson, Sir Peter de Maule, married, about 1224, Christian, only daughter and heiress of William de Valoniis of Pannomor, or Panmure, and got with her the baronies of that name and Benvie, in Forfarshire, as well as other lands both in England and Scotland. He had two sons, Sir William and Sir Thomas. The latter was governor of the castle of Brechin in 1303, when it sustained a siege for twenty days by the English, under Edward I.; and it was not till the governor, Sir Thomas Maule, was killed, by a stone thrown from an engine, that the garrison surrendered.

The elder son, Sir William de Maule of Panmure, was sheriff of Forfar at the death of Alexander III., and was among the barons who swore fealty to Edward I. at St. Andrews, 10th July 1292.

His son, Sir Henry de Maule of Panmure, was knighted by King Robert the Bruce, on account of his services. Sir Henry’s eldest son, Sir Walter de Maule of Panmure, was governor of the castle of Kildrummy, Aberdeenshire, in the reign of David II. He had two sons, sir William and Henry, the latter the first of the Maules of Glaster.

Sir William’s son, Sir Thomas de Maule of Panmure, led a strong body of his name to the assistance of the earl of Mar at the battle of Harlaw, against Donald, lord of the Isles, in August 1411. As the old ballad says:

“Panmure with all his men did cum.”

The Forfarshire clans mustered strong on the occasion; besides the Maules, the Lyons, Ogilvies, Carnegies, Lindsays, and others belonging to Angus, hastened to range themselves under the banner of Mar. Sir Thomas Maule was among the slain,

“The knight of Panmure, as was sene,
A mortal man in armour height.”

His posthumous son, afterwards Sir Thomas de Maule of Panmure, was, notwithstanding his infancy, served heir to his father in 1412, an act of parliament having been passed to allow this in all cases of heirs in nonage, where the fathers had fallen in the king’s service. The lordship of Brechin held by the earl of Athol by courtesy since the death of his wife, Elizabeth Barclay, belonged by right to Sir Thomas Maule, the grandson of her aunt, Jean Barclay, but although that nobleman, previous to his execution for being concerned in the conspiracy which led to the assassination of James I., in 1437, declared this to be the case, Sir Thomas received but a small portion of it, as it was annexed to the crown by act of parliament. His great-grandson, Sir Thomas Maule of Panmure, fell at the battle of Flodden. With a daughter, married to Ramsay of Panbride, he had two sons, Robert and William, the latter ancestor of the Maules of Boath.

The elder son, Robert Maule of Panmure, joined the earl of Lennox in his unsuccessful attempt to rescue James V. out of the hands of the Douglases in 1526, for which he got a remission. Two years afterwards, the king granted him a dispensation for life, from all public duties and attendance, on account of the true, good, and faithful service done by him to his majesty. He was one of those who opposed the projected marriage between the young Queen Mary and Edward prince of Wales in 1543. In 1547 he bravely defended his house of Panmure against the English till he was severely wounded, when he was taken prisoner, and sent to London. He remained in the Tower till 1549, when, at the solicitation of the marquis d’Elboeuf, French ambassador to Scotland, he was released. One of his sons, Henry Maule of Melgum, a learned antiquarian, was author of a history of the Picts, published after his death.

Thomas Maule of Panmure, his eldest son, in his father’s lifetime accompanied David Bethune, abbot of Aberbrothwick, afterwards archbishop of St. Andrews, when he went to France as ambassador in 1558. He was taken prisoner in the engagement with the English at Hadden Rig, 25th August, 1542, when the Scots were commanded by the earl of Huntly, and sent to Morpeth, where he remained till after the death of James V., when he was released by order of Henry VIII. He fought also at the battle of Pinkie in 1547, and in 1567, he joined the association for the safety of the infant Prince James, on the marriage of his mother, Queen Mary, to Bothwell. He died 17th March 1600. With three daughters, he had seven sons. Robert Maule, the fourth son, commissary of St. Andrews, a learned and judicious antiquary, was the author of several treatises, particularly Periodi Gentis Scotorum, a history of his own family, and a tract on the Antiquity of the Scots nation. A branch of the Maules, descended from Thomas Maule, lieutenant-colonel of the marquis of Ormond’s regiment, son of Thomas, the fifth son, settled in Ireland. One of this family, Henry Maule, dean of Cloyne, was consecrated bishop of Cloyne in 1720, translated to Dromore in 1731, and to Meath in 1744.

Patrick Maule of Panmure, the eldest son, married Margaret, daughter of John Erskine of Dun, superintendent of Angus and Mearns, and died 21st May 1605. With two daughters he had a son, Patrick Maule of Panmure, who was one of the select few that accompanied James VI. To England in April 1603, when he went to take possession of the English throne. On 3d August 1646, he was by Charles I. created Baron Maule of Brechin and Navar and earl of Panmure, in the Scottish peerage (see PANMURE, earl of.)