Well, my smartest move playing as England was securiting an early alliance with the Pope... This made my Pope-o-meter jump up to the maximum. As a result, when the French declared war on me, they got excommunicated in two turns... The Pople even sanctioned a crusade to Bordeaux, which I managed to completed in three turns... And once, the Scotts became aggressive, the Pope did not seem to bother too much about me wiping them out (my standing with the Pope got a little beating though: the Pope didn't excommunicate them after their first attack...).