Quote:Frankly, I think that in the absence of Christianity, all Europe would have become Islamic, which might have kept us in the Middle Ages much longer.
Charles Martel and the Franks resisted the Moors without any particular input from the church. Even after Tours, Martel continued fighting against Moorish expansion from the Pyrenees.
It was more or less left to his grandson, Charlemagne, to kiss the pope's ass.