Exmew was one of the first members of Christ's College, Cambridge,[1] then just founded by Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond, the mother of Henry VII.

[4] The Crown was at first anxious to secure the public acquiescence of the monks of the London Charterhouse in the matter of the break with Rome, since for the austerity and sincerity of their mode of life they enjoyed great prestige.

Three weeks later they and another monk of the community, Sebastian Newdigate, were arrested and thrown into the Marshalsea, where they were made to stand in chains, bound to posts, and were left in that position for thirteen days.

Named in the same indictment as Bishop John Fisher, they were brought to trial at Westminster on 11 June where they pleaded not guilty to a charge of high treason.

They were steadfast, however, in asserting their adherence to Catholic teaching on the subject of spiritual supremacy and denied that King Henry VIII had any right to the title of head of the Church of England.