1260 years in the wilderness (Rev. 6:4)

I am interested in the theological fringe phenomenon of Biblical prophecy. Rather than writing a blog post from one angle and supposing to explain a specific Biblical verse once and for all, I will keep adding to this list any explanation I will find anywhere as to what Revelation 6:4 might mean: "Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days." The same time period and supposedly the same "woman" is also referred to a little later in the same chapter: "But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent." I will keep adding to this list as I encounter new explanations.

The questions are: who is the woman and what are the beginning and end dates of the 1260-year period:

E.G. White, Seventh-Day Adventists: Holy Roman Empire, Napoleon 538 - 1798
Wade Cox, Christian Churches of God: Holy Roman Empire, 590 - 1850 (Pope Gregory I to the end of the Papal States)
http://www.ccg.org/weblibs/study-papers/p176.html