Sir Thomas Maule was the youngest son of Sir Peter Maule

Peter Maule

Sir Peter Maule was the eldest son of Richard Maule of Fowlis. He married Christina de Valognes, daughter and heiress of William de Valognes around 1224, passing the baronies of Panmure and Benvie into the Maule family....

 and Christina de Valognes

Christina de Valognes

Christina de Valognes was the daughter and heiress of William de Valognes, Baron of Panmure and Benvie, and High Chamberlain of Scotland.She married Sir Peter Maule of Fowlis around 1224, uniting the two Anglo-Norman families, and with him had two sons, William, the successor of the baronies of...

, Baron and Baroness of Panmure and Benvie.

He was Captain of Brechin

Brechin

Brechin is a former royal burgh in Angus, Scotland. Traditionally Brechin is often described as a city because of its cathedral and its status as the seat of a pre-Reformation Roman Catholic diocese , but that status has not been officially recognised in the modern era...

 Castle, and led the defence when the English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 forces, led by Edward I

Edward I of England

Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...

 laid siege

Siege

A siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by attrition or assault. The term derives from sedere, Latin for "to sit". Generally speaking, siege warfare is a form of constant, low intensity conflict characterized by one party holding a strong, static...

 in July, 1303, during the First War of Independence

First War of Scottish Independence

The First War of Scottish Independence lasted from the invasion by England in 1296 until the de jure restoration of Scottish independence with the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton in 1328...

. The defending forces purportedly held out for 20 days, before Maule was killed on the battlements by a stone hurled from a siege engine

Siege engine

A siege engine is a device that is designed to break or circumvent city walls and other fortifications in siege warfare. Some have been operated close to the fortifications, while others have been used to attack from a distance. From antiquity, siege engines were constructed largely of wood and...

, after which the garrison yielded.