Roman police investigated John Keats shortly before his death, newly discovered 19th-century archive documents reveal.
Keats scholar Alessandro Gallenzi discovered an entry in Roman police registers about the poet, under the misspelt name “John Xeats”. He was recorded as being under investigation, after his landlady asked for him to be removed from her house because he had not disclosed to her that he had tuberculosis. At the time, tuberculosis was considered to be contagious in Rome, so it would have been difficult and expensive for Keats to find accommodation had he been honest about his illness.
