Three Horns Uprooted

Much debate has taken place regarding the claim that the Papacy uprooted three of the Gothic nations that succeeded the Roman Empire—a claim which sees in this history a direct fulfillment of the prophecy in Daniel 7:20 and 24.

ESV Daniel 7:20 …and about the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn that came up and before which three of them fell, the horn that had eyes and a mouth that spoke great things, and that seemed greater than its companions.

ESV Daniel 7:24 As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings shall arise, and another shall arise after them; he shall be different from the former ones, and shall put down three kings.

The claim is that the papacy succeeded, in the 5th and 6th centuries, in bringing about, through war and diplomacy, the fall of three kingdoms. Many theories have been offered by historicist interpreters throughout the centuries to try and explain how this prophecy in Daniel 7:20 & 24 was fulfilled. Some, such as Sir Isaac Newton, have argued that the three horns uprooted by the Pope of Rome were the Exarchate of Ravenna, the kingdom of the Lombards, and the Senate and Dukedom of Rome itself, the prophecy being fulfilled between the years 726-800 A.D (Observations on the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John, 54-64 [ Others, such as Dr. George Dawe, have identified these uprooted horns as the kingdoms of the Heruli, the Vandals and the Ostrogoths, between the years 493-553 (Outlines of Prophecy, 15 [ Several other competing theories exist.

The problem with Newton’s theory is that it makes the Exarchate of Ravenna to be a founding member of the “ten horns” or kingdoms that succeeded the pagan Roman Empire. His argument has merit but is accompanied by a fair amount of akwardness in trying to make the history fit the prophecy. The main problem with Dawe’s theory is that it is difficult to trace in history actual evidence that the fall of the kingdom of the Heruli, under Odoacer, was in any way due to the actions of the Papacy.

A more satisfactory theory, sort of a middle-road between those of Newton and Dawe, is that of E. P. Cachemaille in his book The Visions of Daniel and of the Revelation Explained (London: Seeley, Service & Co., c.1910). The following is an excerpt from pages 45-49.

Three Horns Rooted Up

As it was necessary to the primary development of the Little Horn that the Roman imperial power in the West should be taken out of the way, so it was no less necessary to its fuller development that such of the Horns as had established themselves in the neighbourhood of Rome, and were able to overawe the Little Horn or to hinder its growth, should also be got rid of. Not till these neighbouring powers had, by one means or another, been overthrown and rooted out, could the Little Horn be firmly established, and its distinctive features and pretensions be fully displayed. This overthrow forms a transition period from the early partial to the late full development; and fills up the interval between the lost unity of the empire, and the fresh unity the West regains under the dominion of the Little Horn. Accordingly, the removal of the Vandals, the Ostrogoths and Lombards is one of the most prominent topics in the next pages of the history of Western Christendom. The manner in which these several powers overawed the Roman bishops is matter of notoriety; it was evident that their removal was essential to the full expansion of the Papal power.

The Vandals of North Africa were rulers of Sardinia, within the Roman bishop’s own diocese. In A.D. 455 Genseric the Vandal had taken Rome, and for fourteen days, in a calm and business-like manner, had emptied it of all its moveable wealth. In A.D. 533 the Horn of the Vandals in Africa, Corsica and Sardinia was rooted up by Belisarius, commander of the Greek Emperor Justinian’s forces, and after A.D. 536 the Vandals disappear from history, only leaving a trace of their name in Andalusia.

The Ostrogoths were successors of Odoacer in the kingdom of Italy, and soon after the overthrow of the Vandals their dominion also was annihilated by the same general Belisarius, the nation appearing no more in history. From their territory was formed the Greek Exarchate, ruled from Ravenna.

Not long afterwards the Lombards subdued the northern part of Italy that bears their name, and extending themselves southward, divided the empire of Italy with the Greek Exarchate. At length their power altogether preponderated; in A.D. 752 they conquered the Exarchate, and acted like its predecessors in Italy, in overawing the Roman See. Thereupon the help of the Franks was invoked by the two popes, Stephen II and Adrian I, and the Lombard Horn was rooted up by the instrumentality of the Frank kings, Pepin and Charlemagne. The Exarchate of Ravenna, and other of the Lombard conquests, were attached to the Roman See as “Peter’s Patrimony.” Pepin’s donation was made A.D. 755, and was confirmed and enlarged by Charlemagne, A.D. 774. Thus did the Bishop of Rome fully become a temporal Sovereign, a Bishop-king, a Little Horn with human eyes.

As a temporal power the Papacy has lasted many centuries amidst the other Powers of Western Europe, though its territory has never been large. How it has worn out the Saints of Christ by sword, stake, Inquisition, exciting crusades against so-called heretics, and by warfare and persecution of all kinds, is writ large in letters of blood on the page of history. The Papacy has freely taken and applied to itself the promises and prophecies of Christ’s future glory and kingdom, and the Pope himself claims to be the “Vicar of Christ” upon Earth. The term “Antichrist” means a Christ instead of the true one, and hence, also a Christ against the true one; but in either case himself a Christ, and therefore in profession not an infidel or atheist, whatever he may be in reality.

Even after the time of the uprooting must be supposed to be past, renewed mention is made of the same number ten, in reference to the Horns or Kingdoms. From this it would appear that the uprooted Horns are replaced by others and the number made up. This may be the meaning of the word “first” in verse 8; as though the Horns germinated in succession, and three of the first were uprooted by the Little Horn, then were replaced by others that followed.

Ten remains the characteristic number of the kingdoms all through the 1,260 years. Not that the same ten continue throughout, but that notwithstanding frequent changes—disappearance of some, uprising of others, coalitions of two or more—the average number of ten Western kingdoms constantly recurs down the centuries. This will be manifest if lists are made out at intervals of say fifty years, giving the actual kingdoms within the area marked out in the prophecy.

At such a great crisis as the establishment of the Little Horn, considerable disturbance might naturally be expected, but the average number ten would ere long assert itself again.

The reliability of Cachemaille’s account can be confirmed in modern history texts. The following notes provide some references for the reader’s convenience.

The fall of the Vandals (see Justo L. Gonzalez, The Story of Christianity Vol 1 [HarperCollins, 1984; Prince Press, 2001], pp 231-232).
The fall of the Ostrogoths

Arianism, the view that Christ was not God and man, but merely created by God (and so anti-Trinitarian), was held by Theodoric and the Ostrogoths. The Ostrogoths ruled Italy faily peacefully for a long time because of Theodoric’s tolerance for orthodox Christianity. But in time, conflict arose and the people of Rome, led by the Pope, sought to throw off their Ostrogoth rulers. In The Story of Christianity (Vol 1), the historian writes:

Since the Ostrogoths were Arian, the older population of Italy, which followed the Nicene or catholic faith, looked to Constantinople for support…Finally, when the Byzantine Empire, under Justinian, had a short period of renewed grandeur, Justinian’s general Belisarius invaded Italy and, after twenty years of military campaign, he and others put an end to the kingdom of the Ostrogoths (237; c.f. Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol 2 [New York: The Modern Library, 190?], 118-122.)

The fall of the Lombards (Gonzalez, pp 237-238).