The 1260 Days or Years

The  Seven text:

1.Daniel 7:25 "a time and times and the dividing of time"
2.Daniel 12:7 "a time, times, and an half"
3.Revelation 12:14 "a time, and times, and half a time"
Revelation 12:14 parallels Revelation 12:6 which uses a different expression for the same time period:
4.Revelation 12:6 "a thousand two hundred and threescore days." (Figuring 360 days to a year, three and a half years is 1260 days.)
5.Revelation 11:3 "a thousand two hundred and threescore days"
This text also has a parallel verse which, coming just before it, uses another expression for the same time period:
6.Revelation 11:2 "forty and two months" (With 30 days to a month, forty-two months is 1260 days or three and a half years.)
7.Revelation 13:5 "forty and two months"

From about 400 to 600AD the Christian church entered a phase where she became a religious and political power rather than just being  concerned with religious maters.  This phase ends as the French revolution and the American revolution are establishing a separation of Church and State.   The end of this period has a more dramatic event than the beginning.  In 1798 Napoleon's general, Berthier, entered Rome, proclaimed a republic, and took the pope prisoner. The pope died in France shortly thereafter. Although a new pope was elected the papacy is no longer a political power to be feared.

The rise of the bishop of Rome to a major and supremacy Political force in  Western Europe hinged upon the elimination of the Arian kingdoms which controlled Rome.  There were two main heresies that the Christian Church faced during the 5th century.  Arianism and Monophysite.  Arianism believed Christ was a Created being there by denying his divinity.  Monophysite believed that the Divinity of Christ engulf His humanity and therefor He was purely Divine.  The Barbarian tribes had control of Rome and were Arians.  The Eastern Roman Empire under the control of Emperor Justinian and the Empress Theodora and she was a Monophysite.  The Orthodox (Catholic) Church Believe Christ was a blend of both divine and human. The western Rome empire was in disarray whereas the Eastern Roman Emperor in Constantinople was still Powerful. 

In A.D. 476 the last of the western Roman emperors (Romulus Augustulus) had been deposed by Odovacer the "Barbarian" Odovacer was recognized by the eastern Emperor Zeno and Odovacer was content to serve as Zeno's viceroy in the West.   The rule of Italy and Rome was now by a Arian king, Odoacer, to whom the activities of the Roman (Catholic) bishops were subjected. In 493 Odoacer was overthrown. But his conqueror, Theodoric the Ostrogoth, was also an Arian. The Roman Bishop could not exercise religious authority  while the Ostrogothic (Arian) kingdom dominated Rome.

There was also one other major Arian kingdom to be dealt with. The Vandals had established themselves in Carthage and now controlled the Mediterranean. . In the year 533, the eastern emperor, Justinian, for the purpose of settling the religious question, issued a document ."

Vigilius (Pope from 537-55) was appointed as a papal representative at Constantinople. Empress Theodora sought to win him as a confederate, to revenge the deposition of the Monophysite Patriarch Anthimus of Constantinople. . Vigilius is said to have agreed to the plans of the intriguing empress who promised him the Papal See and a large sum of money (700 pounds of gold). After Agapetus's the current pope death on 22 April, 536, Vigilius return to Rome equipped with letters from the imperial Court and with money.   In these letters there was recognition of the Catholic bishop in Rome as "head of all the Holy Churches". Meanwhile Silverius had been made pope through the influence of the King of the Goths. Soon after this the Byzantine commander Belisarius garrisoned the city of Rome, which was, however, besieged again by the Goths. Vigilius gave Belisarius the letters from the Court of Constantinople, which recommended Vigilius himself for the Papal See. False accusations now led Belisarius to depose Silverius. Owing to the pressure exerted by the Byzantine commander, Vigilius was elected pope in place of Silverius and consecrated and enthroned on 29 March, 537. After the death of this predecessor Vigilius was recognized as pope by all the Roman clergy. Empress Theodora, however, saw that she had been deceived. For after the latter had attained the object of his ambition and been made pope he maintained the same position as his predecessor against the Monophysites.

Belisarius, the brilliant General of Emperor Justinian destroyed the Vandal kingdom in northern Africa. Belisarius then turned toward Rome and began the process of driving out the Ostrogoths. Driven from their place, the Ostrogoths set up a siege upon the city, which they maintained until the year 538. When a second armed force arrived against them, they could hold out no longer, and they retreated from their siege, never again to control Rome.  The year 538 is  therefore the   first time since western Roman Emperor Romulus Augustulus that Rome was freed of Arian kings, and the Bishop of Rome held undisputed authority in the West. That year, therefore, represents the beginning of the 1260 years of papal supremacy.

"Ostrogoths a division of the Goths, one of the chief groups of ancient GERMANS. In the 3d cent. the Goths split into VISIGOTHS, or West Goths, and Ostrogoths, who were subjects of the HUNS until 453. The Ostrogoths then
settled in Pannonia (modern Hungary) as allies of the Byzantine Empire. Their ruler, Theodoric the Great, defeated ODOACER (493) and set up the Ostrogothic kingdom of Italy. After the murder (535) of Theodoric's daughter, Amalasuntha, who as regent for her son was under Byzantine protection, JUSTINIAN I reconquered Italy through his generals BELISARIUS and NARSES. When Narses defeated (552) an Ostrogothic revolt under TOTILA, the Ostrogothic kingdom was crushed. "
The Concise Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Third Edition Copyright © 1994, Columbia University Press.

Barbarian Rulers

Alaric: A Visigoth who sacked Rome in 410.

Attila: The Hun known as the 'scourge of God" sacked Rome in 452

Theodoric: King of the Ostrogoths who replaced Odovacer.

Medieval Sourcebook:
Procopius: The Reconquest of Africa, 534
On the Wars IV.9