Blackboots -- I had mistyped when I said I had 3 Western stacks. I meant EASTERN. My situation is problematic because I have large armies near bagdhad and mosul in expectation of the Mongols, and it's killing my economy. In the West, I have mid-size stacks in Venice & Zagreb, good enough to hold off an enemy advancement there but not big enough to expand, plus a full stack in Constantinople. Really, in the West -- all the coastal cities from Venice through Const., I'm garrisonned heavily enough to defend but not attack. Beefing up the armies there is one option, but I am already over-leveraged on troops as it is because of these damn Eastern anit-Mongol stacks I've had sitting around for the last 10 turns.

I'm calculating that my Constantinople stack can hold off plenty of armies if they try to besiege it. But they aren't doing that, they're just hanging out in the region, apparantly waiting for the landbridge to open. If I leave the city walls & engage fully there, things could go wrong -- I could get forced into an open field battle with 2-3 crusading armies simultaneously, decimating my only stack in the region and leaving constantinople defenseless. Plus, someone mentioned earlier that I'd take a huge hit to my international rep if I attack a crusading army.

I need either:
1) The crusade to end
- or -
2) The damn crusaders to attack me rather than just freaking sitting there.

So, looks like a job for the assassins! I'll try the pope-o-matic first, and if that doesn't fix things, there are 4 generals near constantinople that need to look out for fall rocks and snakes.

If not, maybe another option is to let 'em across into Asia Minor, and move a stack from Mosul into Antioch to defend it when they crusaders get there.

Thanks again for everyone's help!