Late Antiquity +/vs Medieval

[hildewijch]

Khairein, salve, etc. fellow pre-modernly-inclined historians

I have a fairly mixed background in both History and Religions Studies, and am currently getting a masters in Religious Studies. I will have done about two years of Hebrew, Latin, and Greek each by the time I finish my MA, though I am looking to perhaps build on my language skills a bit more before going on to a Ph.D, including doing a second MA.

That said, I am somewhat torn between Late Antiquity and Medieval History as subfields...it seems to me that a great deal of scholars of Late Antiquity are interested in it as the end or "last gasp" of antiquity and the classical world. I am not so interested in classics as the connections between Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, especially how certain ideas from the Patristics period - such as Jewish-Christian relations and the split between Christian East and West - carried over from Late Antiquity into the medieval world.

I understand why the divide exists, especially with the knowledge necessary for both fields and languages being so high, but would you recommend any programs that allow students to do justice to both, or straddle these subfields? I have looked at programs such as UCLA, UC Berkely, Princeton, IU Bloomington for starters...

That aside, does anyone have a genearal feeling about employabilty in Late Antiquity vs. Medieval History?

Thanks!

Edited June 30, 2011 by hildewijch