Spice spices. Spices were among the most demanded and expensive products available in Europe in the Middle Ages, the most common being black pepper, cinnamon (and the cheaper alternative cassia), cumin, nutmeg, ginger and cloves. Given medieval medicine's main theory of humorism, spices and herbs were indispensable to balance "humors" in food, a daily basis for good health at a time of recurrent pandemics. In addition to being desired by those using medieval medicine, the European elite also craved spices in the Middle Ages. An example of the European aristocracy's demand for spice comes from the King of Aragon, who invested
Lex Cassia de senatu Lex Cassia de senatu The lex Cassia de senatu was a Roman law, introduced in 104 BC by the tribune L. Cassius Longinus. The law excluded from the senate individuals who had been deprived of "imperium" by popular vote or had been convicted of a crime in a popular assembly ("Judicium Populi"). The law was a move to restrain the discretionary power of the senate. It was seen as reinforcing the voice of the Roman people. The provision on magistrates stripped of their "imperium" was a deliberate attack against Quintus Servilius Caepio, proconsul in 105 BC, whose "imperium" was removed