Localism and Patriotism

Chesterton again highlights the connection between localism and patriotism. The geographical qualities that separate one group of people from another provide an isolation that encourages similar experiences. These common experiences foster the development of a common identity, leading to local loyalties and patriotism. The land that sustained the local people was naturally an object of affection and, having given life to the local population, it would be natural for them to defend it with their own lives. The lord of the land became a lord through his feats of arms in defending the locality. His hold on the loyalty to the local people was proportionate to how well he organized their defense in time of need. For the most part, the people remained loyal because through him they were able to defend and sustain their terrain.

In banding together and organizing the defense of the terrain that sustained them, the countrymen of the Middle Ages were setting down the foundations for society. After defense would come affirmation expressed through common worship and celebration. These two are tied together because of the intrinsic connection between the goodness of the created order and the thanksgiving given to the Creator. 

The celebrations that marked the rhythm of communal life found their cause in thanks giving to the Creator and commemoration of important dates in the history of the locality. Examples would be deliverance from an  invader through their own hard fighting and the intercession of a patron  saint, or the successful harvesting of a crop despite difficult weather conditions. The local religious bond was manifested in the form of parishes that provided the venue for both common worship and regular occasions for the people to meet and foster relationships. As the countryside became more settled and people began to perform more specialized functions, it was also natural to form various guilds that provided regulations of the trades and exchange of knowledge of the crafts. In this way, what began as a sharing of a common local terrain grew into a multi-faceted exchange of the most valued human interests; work, religion, and festivity. The deep attachment of these human goods together with an attachment to the local land that nourished them explained the closely defended love that goes by the name of patriotism.

Initiative-taking was a dominant characteristic of the medieval man who provided the foundation for this local self-government. The very origins  of the  noble families who comprised the local lordships came from those who took initiatives in feats of arms and organizing the local people into a system of vassals and loyal retainers. Perhaps this quality of planning was partially to rectify the lack of formal infrastructure in society that Chesterton alludes to when he speaks of the roadless Dark Ages. It certainly seems true that it was a time of building not only the structures of self-rule and religious life, but also the building of visible structures such as churches and halls that served as meeting places for communal activity and bore witness to the unity of the local people, if only because the cooperation of so many people was required to build them.

The Historical Imagination of G.K. Chesterton: Locality, Patriotism, and Nationalism
Joseph R. McCleary