When I play as the Spanish (which is often), I usually launch multiple crusades at once, or at least in quick succession (depending on whether His Holiness has called for crusades against a specific faction).

My favorite strategy (when playing as Spain) is to first launch several successive crusades against the Almohads, thereby increasing both my lands and my king's influence. This also often gives me a "legitimate" excuse to take Portugal, as the Almos like to conquer them; so I get to liberate the Portuguese from their oppressive rule--all in the name of defending Christendom!

Following my conquest of the Iberian peninsula and the Caliphate, I generally spend 20-50 turns developing my kingdom--and most importantly, building up my trade routes and naval forces in the Mediterranean. Once I have done so, I usually launch 3-5 crusades to the Holy Land, depending on my current resources and how ambitious/greedy I'm feeling. I always take the Big Three for sure--Antioch, Tripoli, and Palestine--along with possibly Edessa and/or Syria as well, assuming I have the money and the manpower to pull it off.

Finally, I also usually keep a crusade or two "in reserve", so as to take advantage of any French excommunication, thus giving me the opportunity to steal Acquitaine and/or Tolouse.


I never put any of my kings in charge of a crusade anymore, regardless of which faction I'm playing (the same thing goes for jihads). I always end up dealing with too many loyalty/happiness issues if my faction leader is off galavanting for the glory of God/Allah. Putting princes in charge of crusades/jihads, however, can be a good way to give them some nice (or at least interesting) traits. A lot of them get some kind of Zealot or Believer trait. Sometimes their piety even shoots up without traits--simply sticking their unit in a Crusade marker can be enough!