Wolsey was accused of praemunire , and all his lands and properties were to revert to the Crown.

Charged with praemunire , that is, an illegal appeal to the pope in Rome from England, the archbishop argued "the liberties of the Church are guaranteed by Magna Charta, and several kings who violated them, as Henry II.

4: 'Daemonum illusiones solent devotae personae bene regulatae, anti lecti ingressum ad dormiendum devotis orationibus provide se praemunire .'

or not even familiar with the effect of the law of praemunire on the papacy, Wolf Hall has its share of stumbling blocks." JANET MASLIN

Once the bishops had acknowledged their collective guilt under praemunire and requested royal pardon, the king demanded that they accept his supreme authority over the Church.

According to Hale, "[i]n cases that are criminal but not capital, as in trespass, mayhem, or praemunire , there are no accessaries, for all the accessaries before are in the same degree as principals...." (73) Under Hale's formulation, the actors who assist in crimes of violence (trespasses) or mayhem are indistinguishable from the primary actors.

(103) Only two weeks before More's appointment, Cardinal Wolsey had pleaded guilty before the Court of King's Bench to promoting the pope's jurisdiction in England illegally--a crime of praemunire (104)--when acting as a papal legate to the detriment of the royal prerogative.