Instructor: Alexia Jones Helsley, Senior Instructor of History and University Archivist, teaches, among other topics, Ancient and Medieval history at USCA. She has published widely on South Carolina and regional history. A former president of the SC Historical Association, she currently chairs the Old Exchange Commission and serves on the board of the Nineteenth Century Studies Association. Description: Beginning in the 14th Century, a series of plague outbreaks crippled and devastated Europe. This short course will explore the causes, spread and aftermath of this deadly pestilence. Traditionally, the Black Death is considered a combination of bubonic, pneumonic and septicemic plague. The first manifestation ravaged Europe and North Africa from 1347 to 1351. The plague killed up to ½ the residents of London between late September/early November 1348 and the spring 1350. Afterward, the plague became endemic in parts of Europe into the 17th century.