Jxrc: Your situation with the French is just oh-so-typical, if this is any consolation for you
For me, the beginning has been all the same, except that I fared a bit better against the English in the first place (I have described it in the Guides section). Soon after I have finished quelling rebellions all the way up to Scotland, I had a showdown with HRE and the Aragonese. Fortunately, the Aragonese were still only single province kingdom (when your neighbours are Spanish and Almohads, who churn out stacks of troops at a mass-production rate, the Aragonese can only dream of expanding into the Iberian peninsula), and it took only one decisive blow to write them off once their initial attack on Toulouse was repelled (thank God for that cliff on the battlefield! ). The HRE, on the other hand, can rarely afford to support vast armies and its attacks are inherently weak: masses of Spearmen and UM, followed by assorted peasantry rabble. Besides, they usually get into dispute with some eastern kingdoms (my compatriots, the Polish, are excellent at backstabbing HRE every now and then, as are the Hungarians ) and this further turns their attention elsewhere.
Once you deal with your archnemesis, the English and establish an easy to defend 4-province border with HRE and the rest of Europe, you need to take out the Spaniards. Sometimes the Almohads will do it for you first, but more often than not the Spanish manage to slug it out and it takes a backstab to bring them to their knees. After you dispose of them, you can continue south to drive the Muslims from along the African coast, if you feel like it and you don't need to revert your troops to Europe to punish some troublemakers. In GA mode, this has added benefit of providing direct route to Outremer provinces, getting you into the thick of the fight for the Crusade objective provinces. If you manage to hold Egypt and tech it up by 1150 (especially build a Chapter House!), then you are basically set for grabbing all Glorious Achievement goals within the time limit: Tripoli should fall before 1160 if you want that Krak des Chevaliers built on time, and the other provinces can be literally spammed with Crusades if you manage a good standing with the old chap in Rome (given that you've been probably beating the living hell out of assorted Muslims for a few decades now, while pretending to be nice to fellow Christians, he should be almost granting you free Crusades ). By the end of the Early, your standing should be fearsome: all Outremer provinces painted Regal Blue, lots of Templars and Order Foots everywhere, a powerful defensive building - a Citadel, no less, and by its own proud name! - in the heartland of the Crusade objective area, and your armies poised to strike at the richest realms in the area - the Turks and the Byzantines. Then, you may hold back a little and let the Golden Horde stir up the pot a bit before you come crushing upon that turmoil and sink it beneath the tranquilizing wave of Regal Blue This about wraps up your proceedings in High and leaving Late for dealing with the rest of the Christians - including the mad Papist (who can even be disposed of much earlier, especially if Italy chooses to pull the wrong string in the meantime ). The Lancers and other iron-clad knights would fare poorly in the desert anyway, and if you save them for European conquest, they'll be your workhorses (literally!) when it comes to disposing of petty kingdoms of Christendom.
Wow, did I really write a guide on the way?