Translation and Ovid as diplomatic tools in William Caxton's Eneydos (1490)

Cécile Decaix Université Rennes 2

In 1490, in Westminster, William Caxton published Eneydosthe first printed translation of Virgil's Aeneid in vernacular English. 1 Eneydos is an English translation of an anonymous French text called Le Livre des Énéydes compille par Virgile, lequel a esté translaté de latin en François. 2 Although the source text describes itself as a French rendering of Aeneid, Le Livre des Énéydes is not a verbatim translation of Virgil's epic poem: Tudor translation practices tended to create dialogue between sources through comparisons between texts, the incorporation or dismissal of elements from a specific episode, as well as digressions. As a result, Le Livre des Énéydes and Eneydos, although read as one unified version of Virgil's Aeneid, borrow from different source texts and offer diverging readings of certain mythological figures and episodes. Two accounts of Dido's life are told in Le Livre des Énéydes and Eneydos: a rewriting and translation of Boccaccio's depiction of Dido's life in De Casibus Virorum Illustrium (1355-73)according to which Dido kills herself in protest as she refuses to marry a neighbouring king in order to stay true to her vow of chastityis followed by a rewriting and translation of Virgil's Aeneid 4, in which Dido falls in love with Aeneas and commits suicide out of love and despair when he eventually leaves Carthage.

The juxtaposition of these two conflicting and opposing versions of Dido's life introduces a well-known debate into the text. Indeed, the French compiler brings together two accounts that are representative of two of the three traditions that surround the figure of 1 Craig Kallendorf, A Bibliography of the early printed editions of Virgil, 1469-1850 (New Castle, Delaware: Oak Knoll Press, 2012), p. 220. 2 Quotes from the Livre des Enéydes are from Anon., Le Livre des Énéydes (Lyon: Guillaume Le Roy, 1483). Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Rés. g-Yc-313. Three copies have come down to us in printed form. Yet, the study of palaeographical errors reveals that Caxton probably translated from a manuscript source text. I would like to thank Florence Bourgne for her insightful comments on that point.

Dido (Virgil's misogynistic rendition of Dido's life, and Boccaccio's historic, arguably pro-Dido digest), putting a greater emphasis on the mythological figure and thereby stirring up debate on the Queen of Carthage. There is a basis for this, as for many centuries, Aeneas' supposed cowardice and Dido's arguable virtue have been discussed in literature. 3 The third traditionthe Ovidian angledepicts Dido under a favourable light and condemns Aeneas for his dubiousness. It is introduced into the narrative by William Caxton, who added pro-Dido elements to his translation. And yet, Caxton does not openly defend Dido's plight: the changes he makes in his translation are fairly subtle.

Le Livre des Énéydes and Eneydos reactivate the debate and directly take part in the Querelle des Femmes (sometimes translated as the Battle of the Sexes), a literary debate on the condition of women which was then raging throughout Europe.

The argument over the condition of women in Le Livre des Énéydes and Eneydos happens on different levels: on the editorial level, as selected episodes are interpolated apparently to stir up debate; on the level of translation, as Caxton makes changes in his edition; on a diegetic level, as several scenes of debates are added to the Virgilian poem; and on a stylistic level, as women use a specific type of rhetoric to discuss matters and reach an agreement through noble means. That this dispute seems to permeate throughout Le Livre des Énéydes and Eneydos might be because tensions were inserted to better reach a form of balance between men and women. The fact that the episodes of Dido's death and the question of her legacy are greatly emphasised in Le Livre des Énéydes and even more so in Eneydos is perhaps telling. In Fictions of Embassy, Timothy Hampton considers the role of memory and memorialisation in Guicciardini's Ricordi (1530). Hampton explains that memorialisation was used as a diplomatic tool in political negotiation, since memory acts as 'the repository of the rituals and stories that mediate the relationships between rival groups'. Memory is thus a powerful element in negotiation, 'a kind of rhetoric aimed at the construction of a story shared by different communities'. 4 If the figure of Dido has sparked off debates for centuries, then using the two opposing accounts of her death and their aftermaths could be seen as an efficient way of reaching truce. explore how Le Livre des Énéydes and Eneydos stage women as active agents of diplomacy. I shall then analyse Caxton's silent modifications as he adds an Ovidian perspective to Dido's story, using Ovid as a 'balancing instrument' to appease tensions. We shall see how appeasement is also reached through digressionssome of them borrowed from Ovidat times marginalising Aeneas from the narrative, and even turning Aeneas's case as exemplum in malo. I fonde the falle of Dido, somtyme quene and foundresse of the noble cyte of Carthage, the whiche, in redynge, I was abasshed and had grete merveylle / how Boccaccio, whiche is an auctour so gretly renommed, hath transposed, or atte leste dyversifyed, the falle and caas otherwyse than Virgil hath in his fourth booke of Eneydos, / in whiche he hath not rendred the reason / or made ony decysion to approve better the his than that other. And yf ony wolde excuse hym and saye that he hadde doon hit for better to kepe the honour of wymmen, and wolde not treate ne saye thynge of theym dyshoneste, but that myghte be to theyr avauncemente, this reason hath noo place, for he hath putte in many places other grete falles overmoche infamous of some quenes and ladyes, / and hath not suffyced to hym to speke alle in generall but hath made expresse chapytres / in blamynge the complexions of theym, by the whiche partyculerly he sheweth the dyssolucyons and perverse condycyons that ben in the sexe femynyne (sigs. B7r-B7v). 5 The French compiler is astonished that Boccaccio wrote an account of Dido's life that differs from that of Virgil, and he regrets that the poet did not share his thoughts as to why he would adopt such a point of view. His digression follows the lines of a prolepsis a rhetorical device which sees a speaker anticipate possible answers to a hypothetical reader's statements in order to negate them.

Introducing the

At the outset, the French compiler draws attention to the fact that Boccaccio did not explain why he contradicts Virgil, and instead introduces a statement that negates any contradictory response ('and yf only wolde excuse hym'). He then anticipates potential arguments that readers could make: how Boccaccio wanted to preserve the honour of women, or how he intended to improve their condition. The compiler then offers counterpoints the hypothetical reader's points ('this reason had no place') and specifies that Boccaccio has written some texts disparaging women and blaming their perverse condition. He then proposes a solution, which relies on analogic demonstration, as he offers to compare the two accounts so that readers can see for themselves. But his rhetorical display reveals more than meets the eye and hints quite overtly at the Querelle des Femmes; he dismisses in advance any proto-feminist argument that could be applied to Boccaccio's works 6 (therefore implying that he sees Boccaccio as a misogynistic poet) and eventually refuses to take sides. Although his intentions here are unclear, since he only mentions one side of the argument but nevertheless includes Boccaccio's pro-Dido account, the compiler provokes controversy before settling it. He ends up juxtaposing a medieval moral story with a classical poem and linking them both to the Querelle. The same technique (introducing a moot point and proposing a solution) is incorporated into the whole of Le Livre des Énéydes and Eneydos, and more particularly at the beginning and at the end of the Virgilian-inspired account of Dido's life. The transition between the Boccaccian-inspired digest of Dido's life and the Virgilian-inspired one is rather short and to the point, and it is directly followed by a digression: But for to shewe the difference that I fynde of the deth of the sayd Dido, / I shall reherce here after now in a nother maner, whiche is to be presupposed was moeved of the grete hate and evil wyll that Juno the goddesse conceyved ayenst Paris, / his frendis, parents / and alyes, and by cause of over sodayn jugement that he made / whan he gaaf the apple to Venus as the most fayrest of theym all, / and to him holden and moost dere, bycause of whiche hate / whan Aeneas, sone of Venus and nygh kynnesman of Paris, wold departe from Troy / after the siege of the same (sig. C6v). This account of Dido's story begins with a reminder of how Juno and Venus played a part in the Judgement of Paris which resulted in the Trojan war. The passage implies how women, through the depiction of Juno and Venus, can create chaos in human lives. The Judgement of Paris is here linked with Dido's story as both goddesses are responsible for Dido's falling in love with Aeneas, as depicted in the Latin poem: quin potius pacem aeternam pactosque hymenaeos exercemus? habes, tota quod mente petisti: ardet amans Dido traxitque per ossa furorem. communem hunc ergo populum paribusque regamus auspiciis; liceat Phrygio servire marito dotalisque tuae Tyrios permittere dextrae. 7 Juno and Venus seek reconciliation and a political alliance through a union between Dido and Aeneas. The link between the Judgement of Paris and the affair between the two lovers directly embeds Dido's story within conflict, therefore implying how women as a 7 'Why do we not rather strive for an enduring peace and a plighted wedlock? What you sought with all your heart you have; Dido is on fire with love and has drawn the madness through her veins. Let us then rule this people jointly with equal sovereignty; let her serve a Phrygian husband and yield her Tyrians to your power as dowry!' All references to Virgil's Aeneid from Virgil, Eclogues. Georgics. Aeneid: Books 1-6, trans. by H. Rushton Fairclough, ed. by G.P. Goold (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1999), 4. 99-104. rule (in this case, Helen of Troy, Dido, Juno and Venus) are responsible for chaos.

Yet, in the Livre des Énéydes and Eneydos, the denouement of the Virgilian account of Dido's life is supplemented with an episode that has been added by the French compiler and which, this time, aims at seeking appeasement. When Dido kills herself and is stuck between life and death, Virgil's Aeneid specifies that Iris, and not Proserpina, has to release Dido's soul by cutting a lock of her hair: Tum Iuno omnipotens, longum miserata dolorem difficilisque obitus, Irim demisit Olympo, quae luctantem animam nexosque resolveret artus. nam quia nec fato, merita nec morte peribat sed misera ante diem subitoque accensa furore, nondum illi flavum Proserpina vertice crinem abstulerat Stygioque caput damnaverat Orco. ergo Iris croceis per caelum roscida pinnis, mille trahens varios adverso sole colores, devolat et supra caput adstitit. 8 This disagreement is quickly settled in Aeneid, whereas Le Livre des Énéydes and Eneydos show the two goddesses quarrelling over Dido's soul. The dispute starts with a plea by Iris and Juno: Wherof Juno, the noble goddesse conservatyve of yongthe, that hadde pyte of the longe sorowe mortalle in whiche was constytuted the fayr Elissa or Dido, / sente towarde hir, for to brynge atte an ende hir immense trystesse, hir noble messager named Iris, / whiche, as some saen, is the rayen bowe, wyth hir fayr cote of dyverse fygures, for to unbynde the rotes of the spyrite vytalle from the membres of hir body, whiche were thenne in grete opposicyon and debate one ayenste another, / by cause that the humydyte radycalle and other complexcyons in proporcyon convenable, coencly[n]ed togyder, dyde receyve the gooste soo that it coude not goo there from by hitselfe wythoute ayde of other; / also, that hir deth naturalle 8 'Then almighty Juno, pitying her long agony and painful dying, sent Iris down from heaven to release her struggling soul from the prison of her flesh. For since she perished neither in the course of fate nor by a death she had earned, but wretchedly before her day, in the heat of sudden frenzy, not yet had Proserpine taken from her head the golden lock and consigned her to the Stygian under-world. So Iris on dewy saffron wings flits down through the sky, trailing athwart the sun a thousand shifting tints, and halted above her head' (Aeneid, 4. 693-702).

oughte not to haven comen yet of longe tyme, / but by accydente and harde fortune, / whiche is gladly evyll and dyverse to theym that she byholdeth awrye, was broughte in to suche dysperacyon, / not for noo crymynalle cause, nor for noon other thynge wherof she oughte to suffre dethe / nor to endure ony peyne or sufferaunce / that she slewe her self (sig. H2v).

Proserpina's answer follows:

Alwayes, she wolde force herself to have for her part the soule of Elissa, / sayenge that she hadde slayn herself by dysperacion, as for cause of furye and of rage, whiche is a thinge inhumayne, dependynge of the operacyons and wodnesses of helle that she herself hathe enprynted in her persone, wherunto she hathe subdued and submytted herself. Wherfore by reson she oughte to abyde under her, / as we see by example famyler whan som body hathe submytted hymself by oblygacion to the jurisdicyon of some juge, the said juge is capable for to have the knowlege therof, how be it that to fore the oblygacyon was made, / the persone was exempt of his juridicyon (sigs. H3v-H4r).

Iris' defence speech and Proserpina's prosecution follow the lines of judicial rhetoric as detailed in Pseudo-Cicero's Rhetorica ad Herenium. The discussion does not centre on Dido's 'crime' in itself (her suicide), but rather on what leads her to perform such an act. Iris' argument borrows from 'Comparison', which relies on showing that the defendant opted for the best, most advantageous option: 9 Dido simply killed herself to put an end to her suffering. Her death is not a criminal but a desperate act. In judicial rhetoric, the prosecutor is expected to deny that the defendant has chosen the best option but will emphasise that they acted with 'wilful fraud'. 10 Here, Proserpina alludes to Iris' mention of 'desperation' in order to redefine it. According to Proserpina, Dido's despair grew out of 'fury' and 'rage', two inhuman passions that are engrained in her. Iris' judicial rhetoric also borrows from 'Acknowledgement', which is a 'plea for pardon' and includes a stage called 'exculpation'. 'Exculpation' consists in denying that the act was performed with intent. Iris argues that Dido's death happened by 'accident' and 'hard fortune', further emphasising the queen's innocence. Proserpina's answer endeavours to prove that by 'submitting herself' to these passions, she is not innocent of her crime. Le Livre des Énéydes and Eneydos do not mention an explicit agreement between the goddesses: Iris simply ignores Proserpina's claim and cuts the hair that maintains Dido's life. Yet, this original episode sees two female characters ending a dispute through the use of classical rhetoric. If Iris and Proserpina's disagreement is briefly alluded to in Virgil's Aeneid, the fact that this episode is developed to the advantage of two female figures modifies the reception of the classical poem. By introducing a Querelle des Femmes within the narrative, the French compiler and Caxton allow female figures to end a dispute and find appeasement through noble means (classical rhetoric) and reassess the statement made by the opening episode on the Judgement of Paris. Therefore, although this rewriting opens on an arguably misogynistic reference to war and to women being the roots of evil, it ends on a call for legal compromise between two goddessesthereby allowing for a more positive representation of Dido's death, as I shall demonstrate. To a medieval reader, this episode could also be reminiscent of the active role of noble women in politics and diplomacy. These women also resorted to classical rhetoric in order to settle diplomatic issue. 11 Moreover, this specific passage is reminiscent of curial or clergial style, the prose of court administrators. Diane Bornstein explains it is the 'style of the chancery of the Middle Ages' which derived from Latin and vernacular French and was defined by the use of 'formulaic expression, terms of reference (dussusdit, le dit, cette dit), introductory phrases, Latinate words, elaborate explanation, legal phrases, synonyms (particularly doublets), reliance on the passive voice, and use of a grave, ceremonious tone'. 12 Bornstein adds that clergial style was seen as a 'rhetorical ornament' in the fifteenth century. 13 As evidenced in many studies, Chaucer translated and used such style into English and more particularly in his 'Tale of Melibee' from the Canterbury Tales. The presence of synonyms and doublets ('peyne or sufferaunce', 'opposition and debate ou ayenste another', 'by hitselft without ayde of other'), terms of reference ('wherunto', 'wherfore', 'how be it'), as well as elaborate explanation and the use of a ceremonious tone 'by cause that the humydyte radycalle and other complexcyons in proporcyon convenable', for example) are representative of his adoption of a clergial style. Dido's judgement scene therefore showcases women figures using classical rhetoric as well as clergial style (inherited from French vernacular practice) to depict a medieval mythographic episode. Although the judgement scene was adapted to suit a medieval French readership in the Livre des Énéydes, Caxton chose to keep the French flavour in his translation. Even if clergial style was on the decline in English diplomatic writings as the fifteenth century was drawing to a close, 16 Caxton's translation and import of this episode allow English readers to reassess the role of feminine figures in peacemaking and to take part in a European debate. Yet, Caxton's Eneydos is not a verbatim translation of the Livre des Énéydes: when he encountered conflicting visions in the French source that were in contradiction to his own interpretation of the classical matter, he used the opportunity to offer a more positive representation of women and to introduce changes in the course of his translation.

Caxton's Ovidian reading of the figure of Dido

Eneydos offers different accounts of the life of Dido, which descend from three main traditions: historic, Virgilian and Ovidian. If the French compiler juxtaposes the Boccaccian and Virgilian versions for didactic purposes, he appears to omit an important and well-known Ovidian source: Heroides 7. Nonetheless, the Ovidian materia is omnipresent in the Livre des Énéydes and Eneydos, as passages borrowed from the Metamorphoses have silently been incorporated into the narrative, probably at an earlier stage of composition. Ovid's presence is even more prominent in Eneydos since Caxton modifies the French source text as he inserts a direct reference to the poet's name and makes subtle changes to his translation, revealing his Ovidian reading of the figure of Dido. Indeed, if Caxton's translation is fairly close to the French text, he amended some passages, altering thus the reception of the Virgilian epic.

Influence in Fifteenth-Century English Prose', Rhetorica: A Journal of the History of Rhetoric 2.3 (1984), 207-26. 16 The court favoured the use of vernacular English in letter-writing from the 1420s onwards, see Richardson, 'The Dictamen', 212.

The collation work I carried out between the Livre des Énéydes and Eneydos reveals that Caxton made small but meaningful pro-Dido changes during the course of his translation.

In Le Livre des Énéydes and Eneydos, when Fame spreads rumours about Dido and Aeneas, Iarbaswho made overtures to Dido in the pastcomplains to the gods. Chapter headings that precede Iarbas' protests are different in Le Livre des Énéydes and Eneydos Caxton translates 'cite de troie' (city of Troy) by 'country of Italy', which is a coherent alteration in line with the Virgilian ur-text. But he also replaces 'dydo' by 'Aeneas'. In this version, Iarbas is not complaining about Dido's dismissal of his suit, but about Aeneas for seducing Dido. Chapter headings have an explanatory function as well as a proleptic one: if the content of the chapter does not change in Eneydos, the way readers interpret it may be influenced by Caxton's amendments: they now expect Aeneas to be blamed, not Dido.

In Aeneid, Dido organises a hunt for Aeneas and their attendants. Juno and Venus create a storm and the two lovers take refuge in a cave. What happens there is quite elliptic in the Latin poem. It is acknowledged that Dido and Aeneas engage in sexual intercourse, but the meaning of such an act 17since Aeneas later denies the fact that a wedding occurred 18is problematic. The matter is intentionally left unclear in Aeneid. However, 17 'The narrative of Aeneid 4 plays on the indeterminacy of the cave scene and the audience's uncertainty, not so much about the events themselves… but about the social significance of the events in the cave… Although many scholars assume that Dido is deludedperhaps understandably deludedin her belief that a wedding has occurred, some assert that a wedding did in fact occur'; see Desmond, Reading Dido, pp. 29-30. 18 'Neque ego hanc abscondere furto / speravi (ne finge) fugam, nec coniugis umquam / praetendi taedas aut haec in foedera veni'-'I did not hopethink not thatto veil my flight in stealth. I never held out a bridegroom's torch or entered such a compact' (Aeneid, 4. 337-9). in Eneydos, Caxton introduces a chapter heading and states things quite clearly. He adds: 'Of the grete tempest storme atte maryage of them' (Chapter 15, sig. D6r). The fact that the term 'mariage' is explicitly mentioned in a title heading modifies the reception of this otherwise controversial episode: Eneydos plainly states that a wedding is going to take place; there is no room for misunderstanding. This addition alters the depiction of the cave scene as it now becomes an argument in favour of Dido: she has been fooled by Aeneashe is the one who is being insincere. In Virgil's Aeneid 6, Aeneas descends to hell in order to visit his father Anchises. On his way to the Elysian Fields, Aeneas encounters Dido's shadow as she committed suicide when he left Carthage. Yet, Le Livre des Énéydes and Eneydos both dismiss this event. 19 Le Livre des Énéydes explains: 'mais ce fut mensonge et qui la vouldra trouver quiereon romant de eneas ou en virgille' (sig. I3v). Le Roman d'Énéas was one of the most famous Romans d'Antiquité ('Romances of Antiquity') in medieval It is an account of Aeneas' epic journey inspired by Virgil's and was published around 1160. Caxton translates this chapter heading as follows: 'but this mater I leve, for it is fayned, and not to be bylevyd who that will knowe how Aeneas wente to helle, late hym rede Virgil, Claudian, or the pistelles of Ovid…' (sig. H8v). Caxton thus dismisses the reference to Le Roman d'Énéas and instead advises his readers to read three classical sources to supplement their knowledge on this specific episode: Virgil's Aeneid, Claudian's De Raptu Proserpinae, which narrates Proserpina's brutal descent to hell, and Ovid's Heroides. In Dido's letter in Heroides 7, however, there is no direct mention to the underworld. Dido, though, does mention her impending death as she threatens to kill herself. 20 Aeneas' guilt is clearly stated in her epistle as she expresses her wish to have 19 Aeneas' visit to the underworld does not feature either in Le Livre des Énéydes nor Eneydos, yet the procession that Aeneas witnesses in this episode in Aeneid appears at the end of Le Livre des Énéydes (sigs. M3v-M5v) and Eneydos (sigs. L6-L7). 20 Si minus, est animus nobis effundere vitam; in me crudelis non potes esse diu adspicias utinam, quae sit scribentis imago! scribimus, et gremio Troicus ensis adest, perque genas lacrimae strictum labuntur in ensem, qui iam pro lacrimis sanguine tinctus erit.

['If you yield not, my purpose is fixed to pour forth my life; you cannot be cruel to me for long. Could you but see now the face of her who writes these words! I write, and the Trojan's blade is ready in my lap. Over my cheeks the tears roll, and fall upon the drawn steelwhich soon shall be stained with blood instead of tears. How fitting is your gift in my hour of fate! You furnish forth my death at a cost but slight. Nor does my heart now for the first time feel a weapon's thrust; it already bears the wound of cruel. Over my cheeks the tears roll, and fall upon the drawn steel -which soon shall be stained with blood instead of tears'] (Aeneid, 7.181-6).

the following epitaph engraved on her tombstone: 'Praebuit aeneas et causam mortis et ensem; / Ipsa sua dido concidit usa manu' (7.195-6). [START_REF]From Aeneas came the cause of her death, and from him the blade; from the hand of Dido herself came the stroke by which she fell[END_REF] So either Caxton made a mistake, or he deliberately chose to refer to a famous pro-Dido text, or perhaps to a different version of the episode. Through this referencesince his readers were most probably familiar with these texts -Caxton once again subtly choses Dido's side. More importantly, he directly introduces Ovid into the narrative and into the debate on the condition of women, as this reference to the Latin poet evidently places direct sympathy for Dido at the fore.

Caxton does not openly defend Dido's plight in his translation: only a very careful examination of the text and comparative work allowed me to uncover such changes. As Caxton directly introduces Ovid into the debate and makes pro-Dido modifications to his translation, Eneydos displays a dialogue between the three main traditions that surround the figure of Dido (historical, Virgilian, Ovidian). By siding with Dido, Caxton probably expected to arouse debate and may well have used this as a strategy to sell more books. Anne Coldiron highlights how complex Caxton's literary output is when it comes to gender issues. She takes the example of The Dictes and Sayinges of the Philosophres (1477), in which it seems that Caxton chose to insert misogynistic passages into the text in order to provoke reaction among his readers, no matter their gender. [START_REF] Coldiron | Women in early English print culture[END_REF] And yet, the Ovidian intertext in Eneydos is used as a 'balancing instrument' [START_REF]Periphrōn Penelope and her early modern translations[END_REF] in the Aristotelian sense of the mean: the reference to Ovid counterbalances the misogynistic nature of Aeneid in order to reach a state of equilibrium. Instead of confronting an opinion by clearly stating an opposite point of view, Caxton's translation aims at reaching the Aristotelian 'golden mean' and offering a more 'vertuous' representation of women. [START_REF] Coffin | Nicomachean Ethics, trans[END_REF] If Caxton's amendments may originate in a desire to stir up the debate and reflect his personal reception of the figure of Dido, Eneydos is nevertheless the result of a series of transmitted texts. Translation practices and fifteenth-century understandings of classical texts also contribute to an indirect dismissal of Aeneas from the narrative, thus offering a more positive representation of Dido.

Fifteenth-century strategies and reception of the figure of Aeneas

Le Livre des Énéydes and Eneydos are the result of the French compiler's and Caxton's personal receptions of the Latin poem. The two texts bear the trace of previous interpretations from the compilers or translators of the sources and intertexts they borrowed from. The figures of Aeneas and Dido and the question of who was to be blamed in their relationship were central to this debate and medieval translations of Aeneid tended to depict Aeneas as a traitor, following the Ovidian angle. 25 The study of translation practices in Le Livre des Énéydes and Eneydos reveals that compilers and/or translators used strategies to rewrite some passages to their likingsand all tended to marginalise Aeneas.

For instance, the use of digressions serves the figure of Dido well. In both rewritings of her story, an episode dealing with the invention and evolution of writing has been introduced into the narrative. These episodes, which directly link Dido to the creation of the alphabet, contribute to the positive representation of the queen. The first digression that links Dido to the invention of writing appears at the beginning of the Boccaccioinspired account of Dido's life. It opens on a comment specifying that Dido was also called 'Elysse or Fenyce', referring to both Dido and her people, the Phoenicians. From the first lines onwards, Dido is connected to the invention of writing through a metonymic process: 'by cause the Fenyces were the first inventours of caracteris' (sig. B8). This idea finds an echo in a second digression, which links Dido to the invention of the alphabet and which has been inserted into the account of Dido's life inspired by Virgil's Aeneid. The anecdote appears shortly before Dido commits suicide and after Aeneas expresses 25 This tradition of depicting Aeneas as a false traitor lasts until the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. his refusal to dwell in Carthage longer. Dido is then compared to Pentheus and is suffering from hallucinations: she sees two of the three Parcae and two sunstwo Thebes (in Aeneid, she is compared to Pentheus too, but there he is the one who sees to suns [4. 469-470]). This allusion aims at reminding readers that there is only one city of Thebes, the one that Cadmus built. Cadmus, it is specified, also invented the alphabet, and he is linked to Phoenicia, both in the Livre des Énéydes and Eneydos:

Of another syde, she sawe also to her semynge two sonnes shynynge one by another that presente hemself by symulacyon wythin the fantasme of her entendement, alle troubled in grete confusyon of dysplaysures and sorowes excessyve, alle dyverse in contrary qualyte. | And the two Thebes, grete citees merveyllouse, that appieren in advysion to be bifore her eyen, | whiche, to her semyng, are bothe prope[r]ly one lyke another. | How be it that there was never but one, whiche a kyng of Greece called Cadmus made somtyme, that founde first the lettres and the arte of writyng, whiche he sent in to diverse countrees, and pryncipally in the land of Fenyce, where he made scriptures, grete bokes and cronicles… But in token of this, that the first lettres wherof he was inventour, came out of Fenyce (sigs. F5-F5r-v). This quite long passage links Dido to the invention of writing and, more importantly, highlights that writing entails transmission: 'he made scriptures, grete bokes and cronicles, / lerned the folke to rede and to write', 'men may doo knowe all his wille and notyfie it to whome he will by one simple lettre… without to departe from his place'. Such aspects are also made explicit in the equivalent gloss in the account of Dido's life inspired by Boccaccio's De Casibus.

These episodes on the birth of writing further emphasise Dido's central part in Le Livre des Énéydes and Eneydos (in a quantitative way) and endow her with new, positive attributes that also have gender implications. They also contrast with digressions linked to the figure of Aeneas, which contribute to a negative representation of the Trojan hero as they tend lead him to the margin of the narrative. This applies to the whole of Eneydos and is not limited to the Dido/Aeneas story. The most striking example of this takes place after Dido's death -Le Livre des Énéydes and Eneydos switch to a transcription of L'Histoire ancienne at that point. As such, after Dido's death, Aeneas resumes his epic quest, shipwrecks in Sicily and decides to leave the island and sail to the Latium. Aeneas and his men eventually arrive in Italy, in 'Thetys' more particularly ('thatis' in Le Livre des Énéydes). The mention to this city serves as an argument to insert a detailed commentary on Daedalus who, as it happens, has taken refuge in this exact same city. The passage that follows Aeneas' death then portrays him negatively. His demise is characterised by uncertainty: Aeneas was either struck by lightning (this death is epic in some way, since Jupiter is the god of lightning), abducted by gods (a death that also holds an epic grandeur), or drowned (a more evhemerist interpretation):

whan Aeneas had brought the lande in peas, and had delyvered it from grete myserye / the dethe that noo body spareth, ranne hym upon in suche a manere/that noo body coude nevere knowe how he loste his lyffe / Some sayen that he was slayne wyth the thonder bolte; the other sayen that the goddes had ravyshed hym / the other sayen hys body was founde wythin a ponde or a water that is nyghe the tonyre is called Munycum of theym of the countreye / Aeneas lyved but thre yere after that he hadde wedded Lavinia, the doughter of kynge Latinus, thus as we have saide (sig. L6).

Aeneas' death quickly becomes a blurred memory as his people cannot clearly remember the cause of his passing away. Through time, his disappearance becomes a mystery: the various versions of his death highlight how there is never one single version of myths, but in the context of Le Livre des Énéydes and Eneydos, these versions act as a negative diptych to the queen's death. Dido, who upon her death, is glorified by her subjects, who (partly) died to protect her realm, and who is deified, passes on a positive message in both accounts of her death, a message that allows her to achieve posterity. Contrary to Dido's story, which would be passed on from generation to generation, Aeneas' story becomes more and more inconsistent over the course of time.

This passage can be read through the prism of Timothy Hampton's point on memory as a diplomatic tool, mentioned in the Introduction. 27 The memory of Dido and her story which, as the text explicitly mentions, will be retold to future generations, is used as a method of reconciling misogynist and proto-feminist sides of the argument. The French compiler's and Caxton's treatments of the deaths of Dido and Aeneas can be read as another balancing act: Aeneas' dubiousness needs to be forgotten while Dido's virtue is something to be recorded and built upon.

Conclusion

Le Livre des Énéydes and Eneydos display an array of techniques that were used to comment on the ongoing debate on gender, and as such underline the political and diplomatic dimensions of translation. Additions, digressions, and subtle modifications reveal that translation can be used as an effective instrument in reaching appeasement.

Although the French compiler and Caxton might have intended to brew controversy in taking one side or another, their translation practices and their desire to adapt to a contemporary audience's tastes (through the use of classical rhetoric and clergial style)

have the effect of restoring balance in a dispute. The pro-Dido, Ovidian elements that Caxton adds find an echo in other silent Ovidian intertexts that had been inserted at a previous stage of composition. The introduction of diplomatic and negotiation tools into mythological matter tend to conciliate a social debate on the condition of women, but also spark an entirely new one, of a literary kind this time. Gavin Douglas, who translated Aeneid into Scots a few decades later, criticised Caxton's translation, thus rekindling the tension that Eneydos had tried to appease: 'Me list not schaw, quhow the storie of Dido / Be this Caxtoun, is hale peruertit so / That besyde quhare he fenis, to follow bochace / He rynnys so fer fra Virgill, in mony place [...]' (sig. 3v). 28 Yet, perhaps Douglas is missing the point. It is not so much that Caxton 'rynnys so fer fra Virgill', but that he gravitates towards Ovid in order to achieve a different goal: to reframe the story of Dido in order to

  This article therefore aims at examining how the act of translation and how the Ovidian intertext are part of a proto-feminist rhetoric of appeasement of violent misogyny. I shall first tackle how the Querelle is directly introduced into the two texts' narratives and 3 For a detailed account of the evolution of the figure of Dido, see Marylinn Desmond, Reading Dido: Gender, Textuality, and the Medieval Aeneid (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1994), pp. 23-73. 4 Timothy Hampton, Fictions of Embassy: Literature and Diplomacy in Early Modern Europe (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2009), pp. 27-8.

  Querelle des Femmes into the narrative The narratives of Le Livre des Énéydes and Eneydos are composed of direct sources and subtly interwoven intertexts ranging from classical literature (among which are Virgil's Aeneid, Ovid's Metamorphosis and Heroides) to medieval texts both in French (such as Laurent de Premierfait's Des Cas des Nobles, a French translation of Boccaccio's De Casibus; or L'Histoire ancienne jusqu'à César, a French thirteenth-century chronicle) and in Latin (Boccaccio's De Casibus). As such, Le Livre des Énéydes and Eneydos therefore offer a wealth of perspectives on Aeneas' epic quest. Moreover, the cultural and social environments in which the Livre des Énéydes and Eneydos were produced play a major part in the reception and interpretation of these intertexts. Unlike Virgil's Aeneid, Le Livre des Énéydes and Eneydos do not open on Aeneas' shipwreck onto the shores of Carthage and his encounter with Dido. Both rewritings follow ordo naturalis instead and events are narrated chronologically. The figure of Dido thus arrives much later in the narrative -after Aeneas' flight from Troy and his consecutive hardships. Dido's appearance in the account is further delayed by a comment made by the French compiler directly before her introduction. He explains that he recently read Boccaccio's 'le cas des nobles' -the 'Fall of Noblys' in Eneydosas a reference to De Casibus Virorum Illustrium. Caxton's translation of this passage is fairly close to the source text and reads thus:

9

  Pseudo-Cicero, Rhetorica ad Herennium, trans. By Harry Caplan (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1954), 2.21-4. 10 Ibid, 2.21.

  14 Caxton's text offers another example of the translation of the clergial style into English. 15 11 For a discussion of women's use of rhetoric in the Middle Ages, see Shawn D. Ramsey, 'The Voices of Counsel: Women and Civic Rhetoric in the Middle Ages', Rhetoric Society Quarterly, 42.5 (2012), 472-89. 12 Diane Bornstein, 'French Influence on Fifteenth-Century English Prose as exemplified by the translation of Christine de Pisan's Livre du corps de policie', Medieval Studies 39 (1977), 369-86 (p. 370). This concept was originally defined by Jens Rasmussen, La Prose Narrative Française du XVe siècle: Étude Esthétique et Stylistique (Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1958), pp. 22-44. 13 Bornstein, 'French influence on Fifteenth-Century English Prose', 372. 14 Diane Bornstein, 'Chaucer's Tale of Melibee as an Example of the Style Clergial', Chaucer Review 12 (1978), 235-54 (p. 237). 15 See Sara M. Pons-Sanz, The Language of Early English Literature: From Caedmon to Milton (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), pp. 10, 50; and Malcolm Richardson, 'The Dictamen and its

  hym to Jupiter of Aeneas, that edefyed the cyte of Carthage, / and how Jupiter sente sodaynly Mercury towarde Aeneas for to make hym to retorne in the country of Italy'

For

  later representations of Aeneas as a traitor, see Emma Buckley, '"Live false Aeneas!" Marlowe's Dido, Queen of Carthage and the limits of translation', Classical Reception Journal, 3.2 (2001), 129-147 and Agnès Lafont, 'Multi-layered conversations in Marlowe's Dido, Queen of Carthage', in Interweaving Myths in Shakespeare and His Contemporaries, ed. by Valls-Russell, Lafont and Coffin (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2017), pp. 195-215.

  Both Le Livre des Énéydes and Eneydos clearly draw attention to the fact that they are excluding Aeneas from the narrative: I have broughte this cyte to memorye. by cause that many have harde speke of Dedalus that fleded for fere of the kynge Mynos of Crete that wolde slee hym I shalle telle you the cause why and shalle leve awhyle to speke of Eneas / The wyffe of kynge Mynos of Crete was named Pasyfa... (sig. H6v).Both vernacular translations offer a particularly long digression on the whole mythographic episode of the Minotaur. A new chapter starts at that point: 'How kynge Egeus lete falle hym selfe in to the see, for the deth of his sone Theseus' (sig. H8). This chapter tells how Aegeus put an end to his life as he thought his son died. The myth of Icarus is then developed at length. The narrative switches back to the 'main' plot ('Now I shalle telle of Eneas and of his werkes' [sig. H8]) after an exceedingly lengthy digression that stretches over two chapters. This digression does not feature Aeneas at all and has nothing to do with his quest. The Minotaur story does feature in Virgil's Aeneid, but it is mentioned in a decidedly succinct manner (6.23-33). In Le Livre des Énéydes and Eneydos, the digression is sewn into the narrative in such a way that the story-within-thestory silently sets Aeneas's story aside. The smooth transition and the detailed description of Theseus' quest are exceptionally well-developed, making it easy to forget about the The Minotaur is a violent monster that feeds on human flesh. Theseus' and Icarus' failures to listen to instruction or warnings cause deaths: Icarus does not listen to his father and flies too close to the sun; Theseus forgets his father's request to hoist white sails should his mission be successful, and so Aegeus kills himself thinking that his son did not survive his quest. These episodes also seem to be indirect references to Dido's threats to commit suicide in Ovid's Heroides 7 as mentioned above.26 Moreover, in Heroides 10 and in Metamorphoses 8, Theseus abandons Ariadne on an island while she is sleeping, leaving her to die (in Metamorphoses, she is saved by Bacchus). Therefore, the Minotaur, Theseus and Icarus are figures of abandonment and deathjust like Aeneas, according to the Ovidian reading of the figure. There is also a stark contrast in the representation of the deaths of Dido on the one hand and of Aeneas on the other. The descriptions of the deaths of Dido are revealing. To begin with, her death is narrated twice in Le Livre des Énéydes and Eneydos: once in the rewriting and translation of Boccaccio's De Casibus, and a second time in the rewriting and translation of Virgil's Aeneid. Both deaths though are portrayed under a positive light and are depicted as a step for Dido to reach the status of goddess. Although the two accounts recount different versions of Dido's tragic end, both agree on how triumphant Dido is at the time of her death. The rewriting inspired by Virgil even introduces a contrast between the representation of Dido before and after her death. Before she dies, Dido is compared to a corpse: 'Dido kept herself still, without eny wordes more to speke, all pale and discoloured as a body that is taken out of the erthe or fro some grete and sodaine peril' (sig. F7v); 'Her tendre chykes and vysage, that afore was playsaunt and debonnayre of sangwyne coloure, tournyng upon white, / becam alle pale sodaynly in hydouse manere, and all mortyfied for the cruelle deth' (sig. G7v). Dido, who used to have a flushed complexion, is now as pale as an exhumed body. Just before her death, Proserpina's actions over ageing and dead bodies are detailed: '[Proserpina] maketh theym dystrybucyon by the temples and in the face of grete ryveles and fromples that putte oute the beaulte of the playsaunte vysage that she sheweth all wyth cordage as welle in the nek Dido is a product of nature and differs from humankind. Iris also offers a chromatic description of the queenwhich contrasts with the marmoreal skin of the Virgilian Dido. Her eyes are green, her lips are red, her teeth are white, her hair fair and her complexion rosy and fresh. The whole descriptio forms a hypotyposis and Dido's pictorial representation turns the queen into a mythological figure that already belongs to the past. Her life and her actions are already inscribed into her citizens' memories as she is now fully part of history. Aeneid, which closes on Aeneas' victory over Turnus, Le Livre des Énéydes and Eneydos offer a supplementary ending to the epic poem. As Aeneas dies, an epideictic piece or a funeral oration (as it was the case for Dido) could be expected, as Aeneas is, after all, the eponymous hero of the book. Yet, a few lines only are dedicated to his death, and his people do not mourn over his passing away: After this [Turnus's death and Aeneas' and Lavinia's wedding] abode not lo[n]ge. but that the kynge Latinus deyed / and deceassed oute of this mortalle worlde / Thenne heelde Aeneas all the royame But werres ynoughe he hadde there. For Mezentius that heelde Cecylle werred ayenst hym / But Aeneas vaynquysshed hym not / By cause that dethe toke hym sooner than he wende [...] (sigs. L5v-L6r). The fact that there is no separate chapter dealing with the death of Aeneas, when two chapters narrated in length the two deaths of Dido, could be explained by the fact that these accounts have not been adapted and translated from the same source texts. One of the main differences between Virgil's Aeneid and Le Livre des Énéydes and Eneydos lies in the conflicting representations of the character of Mezentius. Indeed, Aeneas kills Mezentius on the battlefield in Aeneid (10.896-908). In Le Livre des Enéydes and Eneydos, this episode is displaced at the end of the narrative. Instead of fighting Aeneas in Italy, Mezentius attacks Aeneas' new realm and subsequently kills the Trojan hero.

	Trojan hero.
	Moreover, all the figures used in digressions (Theseus, Icarus and the Minotaur) are
	problematic male ones that reflect dubious morals and become mirrors of Aeneas as
	exemplum in malo.

as aboute the temples' (sigs. H3r-H3v). Yet, Dido's body does not undergo these deteriorating effects. In Le Livre des Énéydes and Eneydos, in both rewritings of Dido's life, Dido is praised for her beauty. In the rewriting inspired by Boccaccio, she is beautiful until the moment of her death: 'The countrey is in surety, delyverd from bataylle by thy ryght dolorouse deth, which hath quenched the playsaunt fygure of thy grete beaulte by thy fruytful deth' (sig. C6r). In the account of Dido's life inspired by Virgil's Aeneid, death brings about a metamorphosis that is described at great length in Iris' descriptio (in Eneydos: [sigs. H4r-H4v]). The messenger of the gods details each part of Dido's body, which is now described as an ideal of elegance and proportion. Dido's beauty culminates in the closing sentence which provides the account of her death: 'plaisaunt for to see and replenysshed of all good condicyons; like as it were one the wymen best accomplished that nature had produced syth her begynnyng unto that tyme' (sig. H4v). Thus, Dido's legacy is also at the forefront of the narrative: she will be remembered by her people and, as she is linked to the world of writing, her story will be passed on from one generation to the next. These two aspects clearly contrast with the depiction of Aeneas' death in Le Livre des Énéydes and Eneydos. Indeed, and contrary to Virgil's

See also Coldiron, 'Women in Early English Print Culture', 60-83.

Timothy Hampton, Fictions of Embassy: Literature and Diplomacy in Early Modern Europe (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2009), pp. 27-8.

Gavin Douglas (trans.), Eneados (London: William Copland, 1553). STC 24797.

address the ongoing debate in gender discourse that until that point had been woefully imbalanced.


Armance Sagot #, 

Lorenzo Stievano

Valerie Pralong
email: valerie.pralong@cnrs.fr.

K 3 MnO 4 : a New Cathode Material for K-ion Batteries

Keywords: K-ion Batteries, manganese oxide, cathode, K3MnO4, K2MnO4

In the search for materials used as active species in cathodes for K-ion batteries, only few compositions of transition metal oxides or transition metal polyanionic frameworks have been proposed so far. In this work, we report for the first time the synthesis and study of the electrochemical activity an original K3MnO4 polymorph. This phase is a 0D-type structure made of isolated MnO4 tetrahedra surrounded by K + ions. A reversible charge capacity of almost one K + per unit formula at the average voltage of 2.3 V vs. K + /K is obtained, leading to the reversible formation of K2MnO4 through a biphasic process.

One of the major challenges of the 21 st century is the need to solve the problems related to the management of the energy requested by an ever-increasing consumption, demography and living standards. It is therefore imperative to anticipate this energy demand in a sustainable development context. Storage technologies are highly dependent on the materials used, and it is therefore necessary to search for new advanced materials that are also ecological and cheap. Despite the high performance of lithium-based systems, their production associated with environmental cost is pushing scientists to develop alternative systems based on sodium and potassium, which are abundant and evenly distributed over the Earth's crust. Therefore, in recent years, K-ion batteries (KIBs) have been proposed as a viable alternative. Indeed, this technology has many advantages such as the possibility to use graphite at the negative electrode, aluminum as the current collector and a redox potential of the K + /K couple of -2.93 V vs. SHE, which could result in a higher energy density than in the case of sodium (-2.71 V), reaching values as high as 150 Wh/kg and 350 Wh/L. 1 Many cathode materials, belonging to the same families of those already studied for Li-ion and Na-ion batteries (LIBs and NIBs, respectively) have been studied so far. 2,3 . Among them, one could cite vanadium phosphates or Prussian Blue analogues 4 as well as transition metal (TM) oxides including those based on manganese 5 . Regarding the latter family, it is interesting to point out that in the system K-Mn-O, only layered phases with the general formula KxMnO2 have been reported as a possible cathode material for KIBs. The layered KxMnO2 family was first described by Delmas 6,7 and coworkers, and more recently Kubota 8 and co-workers. Compounds such as P2-

K0.3MnO2 [START_REF] Vaalma | Non-Aqueous K-Ion Battery Based on Layered K0.3MnO2 and Hard Carbon/Carbon Black[END_REF] and P3-K0.5MnO2 [START_REF] Kim | Investigation of Potassium Storage in Layered P3-Type K 0.5 MnO 2 Cathode[END_REF] were reported as efficient cathode materials for KIBs, with reversible capacities of 65 and 100 mAh/g in the potential windows 3.5-1.5 V and 3.9-1.5 V, respectively. However, the layered structure undergoes severe structural distortion and phase transition during K + insertion/extraction, resulting in a rapid capacity fading and poor cycling stability. The use of water to expand the interlayer distance for K0.27Mn0.98O2, 0.53H2O produced an improvement in the kinetics of K + ion diffusion and in rate capability. [START_REF] Gao | K-Birnessite Electrode Obtained by Ion Exchange for Potassium-Ion Batteries: Insight into the Concerted Ionic Diffusion and K Storage Mechanism[END_REF] However, as reported for Prussian blue analogues, [START_REF]Potassium-Ion Batteries: to Future Large-Scale Energy Storage[END_REF] water molecules react at elevated potential [START_REF] Hurlbutt | Prussian Blue Analogs as Battery Materials[END_REF] conducting to low columbic efficiency [START_REF] Lu | Prussian Blue: A New Framework of Electrode Materials for Sodium Batteries[END_REF] . This lack of convincing performance triggered our exploration of alternative KIB cathode materials in the K-Mn-O system.

In this system, a composition attracted our attention: K3MnO4. This phase, first reported by Hagenmuller et al., [START_REF] Olazcuaga | Proprietés Cristallographiques et Magnétiques des Phases K3XO4 (X=V, Cr, Mn)[END_REF] could be described as a 0D-type structure built of isolated MnO4 tetrahedra surround by potassium ions. A magnetic study of K3MnO4 was performed between 0 and 200 K, proving a paramagnetic behavior and the +V oxidation state of manganese. However, this material

has not yet been studied regarding electrochemical potassium (de)insertion. In principle, up to two potassium ions can be removed from the structure, leading to KMnO4 with a theoretical capacity of 227 mAh/g. In addition, we expect also the possible insertion of two potassium ions leading to the composition K5MnO4 (171 mAh/g), which does exist in the similar iron-based system (K5FeO4). [START_REF] Frisch | K5FeO4 und K17Fe5O16 : Zwei neue Kalium-Oxoferrate[END_REF] It is also worth noting that in 2007, Saint et al. 17,[START_REF] Yu | Electrochemical Evaluation of Li3MnO4 Used as Cathode Materials for Lithium-Ion Batteries[END_REF] reported the lithium insertion into the phase -Li3MnO4, which is the stable polymorph at low temperature, crystallizing in the wurtzite-type structure. [START_REF] Meyer | Zum thermischen Verhalten von Li3MnO4 I[END_REF][START_REF] Kilroy | Synthesis and Characterization of Metastable Li-Mn-O Spinels from Mn(V)[END_REF] This polymorph shows a first discharge capacity of 80 mAh/g corresponding to the insertion of for 0.4 Li in the potential window 4.0-1.8 V. [START_REF] Yu | Electrochemical Evaluation of Li3MnO4 Used as Cathode Materials for Lithium-Ion Batteries[END_REF] Nevertheless, the capacity drops by 75% after 30 cycles compared to the first discharge value. [START_REF] Surace | Capacity Fading in Li3MnO4: A Post-Mortem Analysis[END_REF] Hagenmuller and co-workers succeeded in preparing the two polymorphs of K3MnO4 as single crystals by solid-state route from K2O and MnO2 under different atmosphere. The high temperature polymorph γ-K3MnO4 (obtained at 1100°C under O2) has a cubic symmetry (P213) with a disordered distribution of K and Mn in similar tetrahedral sites. The low temperature polymorph β-K3MnO4, can be prepared by annealing γ-K3MnO4 at 300°C under argon. This polymorph has a tetragonal symmetry (I-42m) with ordered MnO4 tetrahedra. The manganese is reported at the edge and the center of the tetragonal mesh, every manganese is surrounded by four oxygen.

In this work, K3MnO4 was prepared via a simple conventional solid-state method starting from of a 10 % excess of potassium superoxide KO2 (Acros Organic) and manganese oxide MnO (Sigma-Aldrich, 99%), following the chemical reaction: 3KO2 + MnO  K3MnO4 + O2. The required precursors were mixed together for 2 hours in a planetary ball mill and further heated at 500°C for 12 h in an alumina crucible under vacuum, producing a well-crystallized air sensitive blue colored compound (Fig. 1 c)). Note that such color is common for manganese +V oxides. [START_REF] Collins | A Manganese(V)-Oxo Complex[END_REF] SEM analysis shows large particles of about 10 µm in size (Fig. 1 d)) without a particular shape. The corresponding X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) pattern was refined starting from the published cell parameters of the iron analogue K3FeO4 (Fig. 1 a)), [START_REF] Hoppe | Zur Konstitution von K3[FeO4]. Z. Fur Anorg[END_REF] indicating the formation of a previously unknown K3MnO4 polymorph. We propose to label this new polymorph α-K3MnO4. This phase crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group Pnma with the following cell parameters: a=7.754(1) Å, b=8.960(1) Å, c=7.918(1) Å and a volume of V = 550.998(1) Å 3 . For this polymorph, [MnO4] tetrahedra are organized differently compared to the two other known polymorphs. As for the tetragonal structure, they are ordered but alternatively pointing to opposite directions ("zig-zag" arrangement) (Fig. 1b)). The charge-discharge profiles of α-K3MnO4 were measured by incremental galvanostatic cycling at C/20 (corresponding to the (de)insertion 1 K + per unit formula in 20 h) in the potential window 1.6-3.5 V versus K + /K (Fig. 2a). Despite our attempts, we never succeeded in inserting potassium ions into the structure, probably due to the large size of K + ions. Thus, starting from K3MnO4, one K + could be removed during the oxidation process at 2.6 V vs. K + /K, leading to the formation of K2MnO4. The potentiostatic intermittent titration (PITT) curve shown in Fig. 2c reveals a dominant bell shape-type response at 2.66 V, which characterizes a biphasic process, and a second similar but shorter process located at 2.8 V vs. K + /K. The first biphasic process is also clearly observed (Fig. 2 b)) in the derivative curve showing half width length narrower than 50 mV (6 mV on charge and 28mV on discharge), suggesting the formation of a new phase at the end of the oxidation with a composition close to K2MnO4 24 . As shown on the incremental galvanostatic curve, once the charge is extended above 3.1 V, the process is no longer reversible. A second irreversible phenomenon is observed and may be due to either the further oxidation of Mn, to an anionic redox process or electrolyte decomposition.

On discharge, a reduction plateau at 2.2 V vs K + /K is observed, corresponding to the insertion of 0.7 K + per unit formula. This process, which corresponds to the first oxidation plateau, is reversible upon further cycling, and correspond to a capacity of 70 mAh/g with a Coulombic efficiency of 97.3%. The large polarization of about 400 mV observed between charge and discharge is probably due to the large size of the particles (10 µm diameter).

The rate capacities of the synthesized material are shown in Fig. 2d, the charge capacity was taken at 3.1V ensuring our work in the reversible window potential of 1.6V -3.1V. The plot of charge capacity indicate is reaching 70 mAh/g after 5 cycles for a C/20 rate. A slight increase in capacity is observed at higher rate, around 75 mAh/g at C/50 and 90 mAh/g at C/100. Nevertheless, it would be necessary to optimize the particle size to increase the capacity. To have a better insight on the structural changes occurring in the course of the electrochemical process, operando XRD patterns were recorded for two full cycles, the first one with limiting the oxidation potential to 3.1 V to highlight the reversibility of the first redox plateau, and the second up to 3.5 V to follow the irreversible process at higher potential (Fig. 3). For the first charge, 0.92 K + per unit formula could be deinserted, corresponding to a capacity of 70.4 mAh/g. In the diffraction pattern, the typical diffraction pattern of K2MnO4 is observed, in addition to some remaining K3MnO4. During this experiment, only 0.92 K + per unit formula could be inserted in the following discharge. However, only the XRD peaks of K3MnO4 are visible at the end of the discharge, indicating the full reversibility of the process.

Dotted lines correspond to the common peaks between the two phases.

For the second charge, 1.2 K + ions per unit formula could be deinserted, corresponding to a capacity of 93.7 mAh/g. During the whole operando measurement, a decrease in intensity and a broadening of the diffraction peaks is observed, indicating the gradual decrease in crystallinity of the different phases. However, while K2MnO4 peaks (20.45°, 22.72° and 28.66°) are observed at the end of both first and second charge, those of K3MnO4 (18.49° and 31.97°) are not recovered at the end of the second discharge, indicating the total and irreversible amorphization of the material Operando analyses were performed with an homemade cell described in a previous paper. [START_REF] Sottmann | An Electrochemical Cell for Operando Bench-Top X-Ray Diffraction[END_REF] In this study, a beryllium window is used, a cathode material of about 15 mg was made with K3MnO4 (70 wt%) PTFE (10wt%) and black carbon (20w%). The material was cycled at C/20 and XRD scans were continuously measured between 5° and 50°. Each XRD scan had a duration of about 10 min.

A scanning electron microscope (SEM) Zeiss Field Effect Gun (FEG) XL-30 with a resolution of about 1 nm was used to study the sample morphology, while the elemental compositions were confirmed by energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) on a Link-Isis analyzer (ATW 6650 detector).

Magnetic measurements were carried out with a SQUID magnetometer (MPMS, Quantum Design). For each sample the zero-field-cooled (ZFC) and field-cooled (FC) data were collected with an applied field of 1000 Oe. The magnetic susceptibility was calculated by dividing the magnetization by the magnetic field value. The field-dependent magnetic moment values were collected at 5 K. The Curie-Weiss fitting =

𝑁 𝐴 µ 𝛽 2 (µ 𝑒𝑓𝑓 2 )

3𝑘𝑇

of the χ (T) curve for 250K < T < 350K yields to calculated effective paramagnetic moment with µB = 9.274.10 -24 erg/G, k = 1.381.10 - 16 erg/K, NA = 6.022.10 23 mol -.1 and the µ 𝑒𝑓𝑓 2 = 2 * √𝑆(𝑆 + 1) [START_REF] Kittel | Introduction to Solid State Physics[END_REF] . The experimental effective magnetic moment for the two composition were µeff(K3MnO4) = 3.5µB and µeff(K2MnO4) = 2.63µB. The electrochemical characterization was performed in Swagelok-type cells with a solution 0.8M KPF6 in EC:DEC as the electrolyte and metallic potassium as the counter-electrode.

The working electrode was prepared from a mixture of K3MnO4 with acetylene black in a weight ratio of 50:50. The electrochemical cells were cycled at constant current between 1.6-3.5 V on a BCS potentiostat/galvanostat (Biologic SA, Claix, France) at room temperature. Potentiostatic intermittent titration technique (PITT) measurements were conducted using potential steps of 5 mV limited by a mini-mum current equivalent to a C/100 galvanostatic rate.

Figure 1 -

 1 Figure 1 -(a) Rietveld refinement of as-prepared α-K3MnO4: experimental (○) and calculated (line) XRD pattern. The difference between experimental and calculated patterns, yobs-ycal is shown at the bottom. (b) α-K3MnO4 crystal structure following (001) and (100) axes; (c) Picture and (d) SEM image of as-prepared α-K3MnO4.

Figure 2 .

 2 Figure 2. Electrochemical behavior of α-K3MnO4. (a) Incremental voltage vs. composition curves for K3MnO4 at C/20 rate in the potential window 3.5V-1.6 V; (b) First galvanostatic curve at C/20 in the potential window 1.6-3.1V vs K + /K and corresponding derivative curves │dQ/dE│ versus voltage; (c) PITT curve during the first cycle of K3MnO4 in the range of 3.5-2.4 V vs. K + /K using 5 mV steps for 1 hour and current limitation equivalent to a galvanic current Ilimit = IC/20; (d) and rate capability for the charge capacity at 3.1V versus cycle number.

Figure 3 .

 3 Figure 3. Structural evolution of α-K3MnO4 upon potassium ion extraction-insertion. (a) operando XRD analysis during the two first charge-discharge process in a K half-cell at a current rate of C/20 between 1.6-3V for the first cycle and 1.6V-3.5V vs K + /K for the second cycle. XRD patterns were collected every hour, corresponding to an exchange of 0.05 K + per pattern. (b) Structural view along the c axis of orthorhombic K3MnO4 and K2MnO4. (c) XRD powder patterns of α-K3MnO4 during operando measurement after the different charge and discharged. Reflection attributable to K3MnO4 and K2MnO4 phase are indicated with blue and red arrows, respectively.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors thank J. Jean, G. Riou, S. Gascoin, S. Duffourt and L. Hervé for technical help.

Financial support from the French National Research Agency (project Labex STORE-EX, ANR-10-LABX-76-01) as well as from the Intercarnot Project #252156 "CaKi -Cathode Materials for K-ion Batteries" (Carnot Institutes EPS and CBC) is gratefully acknowledged.

during oxidation above 3.5V vs K + /K. Nevertheless, the low signal-to-noise ratio of the operando XRD patterns makes it difficult to fully characterize the structure of these materials, and synchrotron XRD, possibly combined with neutron diffraction should be performed to better characterize the structure of these phases, in particular that of the intermediate phase that seems to form half-way through the first and second charge (Figure 3 a). Given the paramagnetic nature of K3MnO4, a study of its magnetic properties was carried out as well as that of the fully oxidized one obtained at 3.5 V vs. K + /K. From the dependence of the magnetization on the temperature, one can estimate the manganese oxidation state using the Curie-Weiss law. For the pristine material, (without carbon black), an average manganese oxidation state of +4.4 is obtained. After one charge up to 3.5 V, the oxidation state of Mn is +5.8, very close to Mn +VI , which would correspond to the formation of K2MnO4.

In conclusion, these results confirm the deinsertion of one K + per unit formula from the new polymorph α-K3MnO4 through a biphasic phenomenon at 2.66 V, which accompanies the oxidation of manganese from Mn +V to Mn +VI . This oxidation goes along with a decrease of the cell volume by 15% between K3MnO4 and K2MnO4. This process corresponds to a reversible capacity of 70 mAh/g at C/20 with a relatively large polarization (400 mV), which can in principle be improved by optimizing the electrode formulation and the particle size of the material. Above this potential, the further extraction of K + gives rise to an irreversible process, which corresponds to a progressive amorphization of the system. It is important to underline that this material, non-toxic and inexpensive, is in addition very easy to prepare. This finding confirms the interest of the exploration of the K-Mn-O system for the discovery of alternative electrode materials for KIBs.

EXPERIMENTAL METHOD

The compounds were characterized by XRD using a SMARTLAB (Rigaku) diffractometer with Bragg-Brentano geometry (CuKα1,2 radiation). Note that due to their instability in air, XRD patterns were registered using 0.4 mm diameter quartz capillary. The operando XRD measurement was carried out on a MiniFlex (Rigaku) diffractometer with Bragg-Brentano geometry (CuKα1,2 radiation). For the electrochemistry measurement, a SP-50 potentiostat (Biologic SA, Claix, France) couple with electrochemical cell with a Berylium window was used.

AUTHOR INFORMATION

Armance Sagot : armance.sagot@ensicaen.fr, https://orcid.org/0009-0001-1839-973 Valerie Pralong : valerie.pralong@ensicaen.fr, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4644-8006 https://www.valerie-pralong.cnrs.fr, @ValeriePralong, Lorenzo Stievano: lorenzo.stievano@umontpellier.fr, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8548-0231, @loroik Notes "The authors declare no competing financial interest."