Original sentence: The French believed that enlightened absolutism had made less progress in Spain and Portugal than elsewhere, and that resistance was the product of a century's worth of what the French perceived as backwardness in knowledge and social habits, Catholic obscurantism, superstition and counter-revolution
Edited sentence: The French believed that enlightened absolutism had made less progress in Spain and Portugal than elsewhere and that resistance was the product of a century's worth of backwardness in knowledge and social habits as well as Spain's Catholic obscurantism, superstition and counter-revolution