ntmorency.]

The battle of Saint Denis was indecisive, and the victory was claimed by
both sides. The losses of the Huguenots and the Roman Catholics were about
equal--between three and four hundred men--although the number of
distinguished Huguenot noblemen killed exceeded that of the slain
belonging to the same rank in the royal army. If the possession of the
field at the end of the day, and the relief of Paris, be taken as
sufficient evidence, the honor of success belonged to the Roman Catholic
army. But the loss of their chief commander far more than counterbalanced
any advantage they may have gained. Not that Anne de Montmorency was a
general of remarkable abilities. Although he had been present in a large
number of important engagements ever since the reign of Louis the Twelfth,
and had proved himself a brave man in all, he was by no means a successful
military leader. The late Duke of Guise had eclipsed his glory, and in a
much briefer career had exhibited much more striking tactical skill. The
battle of Saint Denis, it was alleged by many, had itself been marred by
his clumsy disposition of his troops. Proud and overbearing in his
deportment, he alienated even those with whom his warm attachment to the
Roman Catholic Church ought to have made him popular. Catharine de'
Medici, we have seen, had long been his enemy. In like manner, even the
bigoted populace of Paris forgot the pious exploits that had earned him
the surname of "le Capitaine Brulebanc," and remembered only his
suspicious relationship to Cardinal Chatillon, Admiral Coligny, and
D'Andelot, those three intrepid brothers whose uncompromising morality and
unswerving devotion to their religious convictions made them, even more
than the Prince of Conde, true representatives of the dreaded Huguenot
party.[464]

But the loss of the principal general at this important juncture in
military affairs dealt a severe blow to the Roman Catholic cause. There
was no other leader of sufficient prominence to put forth an indisputable
claim to succeed him. Catharine, not sorry to be relieved of so formidable
a rival, was resolved that he should have no troublesome successor.
Accordingly she induced the king to leave the office of constable vacant,
and to confer upon her second surviving son, Henry, Duke of Anjou, whose
unscrupulous character had already made him her favorite, the supreme
command of the army, with the less ambitious title of royal
lieutenant-general.[46