How long does a generation last?

Upvote:0

From William's coronation in 1066 until the Act of Union in 1707, and excluding disputed claimants (Matilda, Louis, Jane), repeat reigns (Henry VI Edward IV), and co-monarchs (Philip simultaneous to Mary) but including the Lords Protector, there were 32 Monarchs of England in a span of 641 years, wielding an average of a trifle over 20 years per reign. Yes there are skips - and there are also siblings. It's a bit of an arbitrary calculation, but at least it's an objective basis from which to begin refinements.

Following the Act of Union to the present, and excluding Anne (reigned 1702-07, 1707-14) as a repeat, there are have been 11 Monarchs of Great Britain in 313 years, giving an average reign length of 28.5 years. This is hard evidence, Elizabeth II's longevity notwithstanding, that the "length of a generation" has increased over the past millennia: in Western Europe at least.

From the standpoint of strictly social history I have seen longer figures used, occasionally 25 years but more often 30 years. This reflects the large family sizes typical in most cultures until quite recent times, with the observation that women giving birth frequently from roughly 20 to 40 are creating an average age of giving birth near about to 30.

So the correct value to use will depend, at a minimum, on both the time period under consideration (generations now are longer than previously) and on the point being made (a longer figure may be more appropriate when considering social history as compared to political history).

Monarchs of England From The Conquest until the Act of Union (1066-1707):

  1. William I
  2. William II
  3. Henry I
  4. Stephen
  5. Henry II
  6. Richard I
  7. John
  8. Henry III
  9. Edward I
  10. Edward II
  11. Edward III
  12. Richard II
  13. Henry IV
  14. Henry V
  15. Henry VI (twice)
  16. Edward IV (twice)
  17. Edward V
  18. Richard III
  19. Henry VII
  20. Henry VIII
  21. Edward VI
  22. Mary
  23. Elizabeth
  24. James I
  25. Charles I
  26. Oliver Cromwell
  27. Richard Cromwell
  28. Charles II
  29. James II
  30. Mary II
  31. William III
  32. Anne

Monarchs of the United Kingdom From the Act of Union to the Present Day (1707-2020):

  1. George I
  2. George II
  3. George III
  4. George IV
  5. William IV
  6. Victoria
  7. Edward VII
  8. George V
  9. Edward VIII
  10. George VI
  11. Elizabeth

Upvote:1

I've already commented to say that it should suffice to say how you've defined the value, and if anyone disagrees with it they have a starting point on which base that claim. However, I also have a potential academic source where 25 years has been used in the past.

Sir John Glubb, in 'The Fate of Empires and Search for Survival', explored the rise and fall of states. He managed to approximate the period in which this process happens to a matter of ten generations or 250 years:

One of the very few units of measurement which have not seriously changed since the Assyrians is the human ‘generation’, a period of about twenty-five years. Thus a period of 250 years would represent about ten generations of people. A closer examination of the characteristics of the rise and fall of great nations may emphasise the possible significance of the sequence of generations. ...

This would allow you to at least source the use of 25 years back to someone else if you so desired.

Sir John goes on to describe how in these "sequence of generations" an empire expands, conquers, trades, enriches itself, learns, and then becomes decadent. The ten generations is based on an approximate calculation where he looks at eleven states and their rise and fall with the 250 years/ten generations being a good average that fits most of them.

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