Williams's liberal attitudes toward the Puritans led to a legal battle with the Court of the Star Chamber. Laud's biographer refers to the original charge against him, of revealing State secrets, as frivolous; but Williams, in his efforts to clear himself, laid himself open to a charge of subornation of perjury, which was proved, and he was suspended from his benefices in 1636, fined, and imprisoned in the Tower of London until 1640. Laud had assumed that the conviction would force Williams' resignation as Bishop of Lincoln; but to his fury Williams refused to resign and no machinery existed to remove him. Until his imprisonment, Williams remained defiantly at his episcopal palace, Buckden, lavishing hospitality on his neighbours.