On the 750th anniversary of Magna Carta, the English philosopher Michael Oakeshott published a review of J. C. Holt's seminal work, Magna Carta. Oakeshott begins his review by stating that ‘the historical understanding of the Great Charter, like that of nearly every important event or occasion, has emerged gradually out of the quite different enterprise of assigning it a significant place in the legend of English life’. This is but one of numerous, yet sporadic, allusions Oakeshott makes to legend and myth in general, and to the English legend in particular, in his works. In spite of the intermittent nature of such references by Oakeshott, it is nevertheless possible to gather from his limited writings on the subject that this type of narrative plays a fundamental role in relation to the political.

Oakeshott holds that the political enterprise of legend-making – that is, of ‘constructing and confirming a social identity and consciousness by establishing a significant relationship between present moods and past events [–] is a perennial practical necessity’. This statement suggests that legend and myth play a foundational role in relation to a political society's identity and sense of self-consciousness. Moreover, the distinction Oakeshott draws between the historical understanding of Magna Carta and the legend-making enterprise intimates that a different sort of past, a legendary past, is involved in legend-making and that it is indispensable for the political. However, despite the central role Oakeshott attributes to legend and myth, he never fully theorises their political function. In this sense, commentators have noted that the idea that a society requires a foundational myth if it is to have the requisite social cohesion is ‘one that [Oakeshott] never really worked out in detail; it is the source of some unresolved tensions in his thought’. Although he never fully worked out his concept of legends of political life, he nevertheless asserts that the English legend of political life, in which Magna Carta occupies a significant place, constitutes a necessary political and practical enterprise.