The accounting of 2,4,8,16 etc is perfectly correct. Once you start
reaching
the 15th generation or more, of course, through intermarrying one ancestor
may take many of the numbers in one ancestorlist, and each one of those
numbers is needed to make a nr.1 of an ancestor list. To be able to do the
apparently according to you useless calculating, they have to have traced
them to be able to do such a "useless" calculation. You cannot do one
without the other.
Also you say that "before the last century everyone was so inbred" have you
seen the method how "inbreeding" is calculated? If you apply that, not many
are regarded as "inbred". Otherwise, why stick to "before last century"? It
should have continued to the present, when inbred people marry inbred
people
you get even more inbred people.
Best wishes
Leo van de Pas
Canberra, Australia
----- Original Message -----
From: "Matthew Rockefeller" <matthew_rockefeller@yahoo.com
To: <GEN-MEDIEVAL-L@rootsweb.com
Sent: Thursday, February 03, 2005 7:32 PM
Subject: Re: Prince William -- His Unique Royal Descents
Interesting figures. I always hate how the naive starting calculating
well we've got 2 parents, 4 grandparents, and so on. They end up with
millions of ancestors, which is ridiculous. Before the last century
almost everyone was so inbreed it wasn't even funny. Most people lived
in villages and always married in that village to probably a fourth or
fifth cousin and so on with their children. Not to mention with
royalty, it's an entirely different ballgame with even uncle/niece
marriages and the marriages of first cousins. Maybe, one day they'll
learn to stop calculating ancestors and start tracing them.
Matthew
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