Accountability for a place in heaven: A stakeholders’ portrait in Verona’s confraternities

This article describes the accountability features of confraternities in Verona during the “Long SeventeenthCentury”. These charities, driven by a common and deep Christian spirit, played a pivotal role in a period ofgreat depression, helping the local community. The accounts relating to their activities display precision andare rich in analytical detail, enabling the painting of a portrait of Verona’s confraternities and their economicand charitable actions as strictly bound by a spiritual aim. Using the stakeholder theory lens to analyse thearchival documents of the 53 confraternities revealed by the Appraisal Book of 1682, this article highlights acomplex network of relationships among these organizations and their stakeholders in light of their power,legitimacy and urgency attributes. We conclude that these confraternities’ accountability was the result ofthe most powerful stakeholders’ influence, and underlines confraternities’ pivotal role in supporting thepoor in the local community and encouraging the salvation of souls, supporting their entrance into heaven.