Key events of Gunpowder Plot

• The conspirators first met on 20 May 1604.
• They rented a cellar under the House of Lords and packed it with 36 barrels of gunpowder.
• On 20 October 1605, one of the people due to attend the state opening of Parliament, Lord Monteagle, received a letter warning him not to go.
• Monteagle passed the letter onto to Robert Cecil, the king’s spy master, who ordered a search that uncovered Guy Fawkes and the gunpowder.
• Some historians believe that Robert Cecil knew about the plot in advance, but let it proceed so the government would have an excuse for further Catholic persecution.