The Distinctio divisionis terrae et paradisi deliciarum
Résumé
Abstract The Distinctio divisionis terrae et paradisi deliciarum (Città del Vaticano, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, ms Barb. lat. 2687, ff. 12 v –16 v ) is an anonymous treatise on the place of the earthly Paradise. An unknown author asks whether the earthly Paradise could be located in the land of the Antipodes and rejects this hypothesis. This article demonstrates two points. First, it attributes the Distinctio to the Franciscan friar Gerard Odonis (d. 1349). In fact, this text is a distinction of his commentary on the Sentences (book ii , d. 20, qq. 1–2). Second, the article argues that Odonis’s opinion on the location of Paradise is quite unusual, since he reverses the Aristotelian order of elementary spheres. Odonis places the earthly Paradise so high on a mountain that it is necessary to deny the existence of the sphere of fire. While explaining how the Flood did not inundate Paradise, he asserts that water is naturally lower than earth. The article provides the first critical edition of the Distinctio .