Short answers, pulled from the story.
The word praemunire means to fortify or to supply support for something instead of its proper object. It began as a legal mechanism to strip English subjects of their rights when they answered to a foreign power. The name derived from the Latin phrase meaning to fortify or to uphold something in preference to its proper object.
The Statute of Praemunire was enacted by 1353 during the reign of Edward III. This law punished those who transferred legal cases from English courts to the papal curia. The penalties included loss of all civil rights, forfeiture of lands and goods, and imprisonment at the king's pleasure.
Henry VIII used praemunire as a weapon of political destruction to indict individuals, groups of clergy, and the entire English clergy. The law was used to break the power of the Pope in England and allow the king to control the appointment of bishops. This period marked a turning point in English history as the legal framework justified the break with Rome.
The Criminal Law Act 1967 finally rendered praemunire facias no longer an offence in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland. This occurred after the abolition in 1870 of forfeiture as a penalty for treason and felony did not apply to praemunire. The statute faded into obscurity following complex diplomatic compromises in the 19th century.
The penalties for violating the Statute of Praemunire included loss of all civil rights, forfeiture of lands and goods, and imprisonment at the king's pleasure. Anyone who purchased or pursued translations or sentences of excommunications in the court of Rome would be put out of the king's protection. Their lands would escheat, meaning they would revert to the crown.