Did medieval society consider the eastern romans to be the roman empire, or did they refer to them as something else?
Pardon the short response, but in a few words - yes and no. The Partitio terrarum imperii Romaniae, also referred to as Pariitio regni Graeci, from 1204 shows that both terms were used. It is safe to say that after the Schism the Catholic world began to refer to them as Greek. The Eastern Christians as well as the Muslims continued to mostly call them Roman. As far as I am aware, many Greeks and Turks even until today refer to them as Romans and it certainly a name used in the southern Slavic countries - "ромеи" ( Рωμαίοι , Romans)
I've answered a similar question in the past, which might be helpful here: