Only played as the English once, but I only eliminated the French quite late in the Game, concentrating instead on creating a sort of Baltic trade empire (norway and Sweden are rebel provinces) and bribing or conquering Navarre (to have an iron-producing province)... Played that way to avoid excommunication problems and everything went smoothly. I'm not saying it is the best way of doing things, but it proves the point Duke of Gloucester made: different to the usual development and it works too...

Cheers
A.