Charlemagne is Your Ancestor

You are a direct descendant of Charlemagne, Carolingian King of the Franks, Holy Roman Emperor, the great European conciliator. "we are all special, which means none of us are. If you’re vaguely of European extraction, you are also the fruits of Charlemagne’s prodigious loins. A fecund ruler, he sired at least 18 children by motley wives and concubines, including Charles the Younger, Pippin the Hunchback, Drogo of Metz, Hruodrud, Ruodhaid, and not forgetting Hugh." "This is merely a numbers game. You have two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents, and so on. But this ancestral expansion is not borne back ceaselessly into the past. If it were, your family tree when Charlemagne was Le Grand Fromage would harbour more than a billion ancestors – more people than were alive then. What this means is that pedigrees begin to fold in on themselves a few generations back, and become less arboreal, and more web-like. In 2013, geneticists Peter Ralph and Graham Coop showed that all Europeans are descended from exactly the same people. Basically, everyone alive in the ninth century who left descendants is the ancestor of every living European today, including Charlemagne, Drogo, Pippin and Hugh. Quel dommage." Click to read the full article: https://www.theguardian.com/science/commentisfree/2015/may/24/business-genetic-ancestry-charlemagne-adam-rutherford I prepared the spreadsheet below to examine this claim. It is likely true. As you can see we quickly have far more ancestors than ever existing, which means that we are descended from the same people on multiple lines. Go back far enough and we are all related, to the same person.  All Europeans are likely related to Charlemagne or someone like him. Go back a few thousand more years and all people are related to one person. Year Generations Years Ancestors Notes 2000 1     25 You 1975 2 50 2 1950 3 75 4 1925 4 100 8 1900 5 125 16 1875 6 150 32 1850 7 175 64 1825 8 200 128 1800 9 225 256 1775 10 250 512 1750 11 275 1,024 1725 12 300 2,048 1700 13 325 4,096 1675 14 350 8,192 1650 15 375 16,384 1625 16 400 32,768 1600 17 425 65,536 1575 18 450 131,072 1550 19 475 262,144 1525 20 500 524,288 1500 21 525 1,048,576 1 million ancestors 1475 22 550 2,097,152 1450 23 575 4,194,304 1425 24 600 8,388,608 1400 25 625 16,777,216 1375 26 650 33,554,432 1350 27 675 67,108,864 1325 28 700 134,217,728 1300 29 725 268,435,456 1275 30 750 536,870,912 Charlemagne 1250 31 775 1,073,741,824 1 billion ancestors 1225 32 800 2,147,483,648 - many more then existed 1200 33 825 4,294,967,296 - we descend from the same 1175 34 850 8,589,934,592 1150 35 875 17,179,869,184 same ancestor on multiple lines 1125 36 900 34,359,738,368 1100 37 925 68,719,476,736 1075 38 950 137,438,953,472 1050 39 975 274,877,906,944 Vikings in America 1025 40 1000 549,755,813,888 1000 41 1025 1,099,511,627,776 1 trillion ancestors 975 42 1050 2,199,023,255,552 950 43 1075 4,398,046,511,104 925 44 1100 8,796,093,022,208 All Europeans descended 900 45 1125 17,592,186,044,416 from one person? 875 46 1150 35,184,372,088,832 850 47 1175 70,368,744,177,664 825 48 1200 140,737,488,355,328 800 49 1225 281,474,976,710,656 Charlemagne - Probable ancestor 775 50 1250 562,949,953,421,312 of all Europeans 750 51 1275 1,125,899,906,842,620 725 52 1300 2,251,799,813,685,250 700 53 1325 4,503,599,627,370,500 675 54 1350 9,007,199,254,740,990 650 55 1375 18,014,398,509,482,000 625 56 1400 36,028,797,018,964,000 600 57 1425 72,057,594,037,927,900 Islam 575 58 1450 144,115,188,075,856,000 550 59 1475 288,230,376,151,712,000 525 60 1500 576,460,752,303,424,000 500 61 1525 1,152,921,504,606,850,000 475 62 1550 2,305,843,009,213,690,000 450 63 1575 4,611,686,018,427,390,000 All Europeans descended 425 64 1600 9,223,372,036,854,780,000 from one person? 400 65 1625 18,446,744,073,709,600,000 375 66 1650 36,893,488,147,419,100,000 350 67 1675 73,786,976,294,838,200,000 325 68 1700 147,573,952,589,676,000,000 300 69 1725 295,147,905,179,353,000,000 275 70 1750 590,295,810,358,706,000,000 250 71 1775 1,180,591,620,717,410,000,000 225 72 1800 2,361,183,241,434,820,000,000 200 73 1825 4,722,366,482,869,650,000,000 All Europeans descended 175 74 1850 9,444,732,965,739,290,000,000 from one person? 150 75 1875 18,889,465,931,478,600,000,000 125 76 1900 37,778,931,862,957,200,000,000 100 77 1925 75,557,863,725,914,300,000,000 One person ancestor of all ? 75 78 1950 151,115,727,451,829,000,000,000 50 79 1975 302,231,454,903,657,000,000,000 25 80 2000 604,462,909,807,315,000,000,000 Roman Empire, Caeser 0 81 2025 1,208,925,819,614,630,000,000,000 Christianity