After conquering France, Scandanavia, and liberating the Holy Land from Islam with the English (that's as far as I'll go! I have a lot of trouble with with the rest of Europe!) I want a new challenge. So, it's time to bring the Roman Empire back to its former glory, but I'm having trouble in deciding which faction to pick. The HRE or the Byzantines.

Some people would say the HRE for some obvious reasons but I find that its German culture a little too "German" and not so much "Roman". This leaves me with the Byzantines who seem to have kept their Romano-Greek culure in tact. However, they seem to have a harder difficulty rating, but then again don't run the risk of the excommunication consequences from the pope. (Plus they don't have the advantage of building Gothic Knights).

So, what do you think? Who should I pick?