Pepper has a long history in Europe, dating back to Roman times. But it's dominance as the table spice is relatively recent and is attributed to the French, specifically, Louis XIV, King of France who ruled during the late 17th century. It is told that King Louis was a notoriously picky eater. While a wide array of spices were available across Europe at the time, he forbade the use of all but salt, pepper and parsley in any food he ate. Thus, it became a must-have spice for anyone hosting royalty.

Now, how much influence he really had is debatable. However, after looking through an entire (old) French cook book, I can say that traditional French cuisine doesn't appear to have adopted spices to the degree of the rest of Europe. It's pretty rare to see spices used in traditional French recipes outside of pepper, mustard and occasionally nutmeg (though, herbs are quite common), while many traditional recipes from neighboring countries make heavy use of clove, coriander, allspice, etc. (Unfortunately, I don't have an old German or British cookbook for comparison)

So, while we never know the absolute answer to this question. There's strong evidence that King Louis XIV influenced its popularity to a degree. Perhaps it's relative popularity drove down the price so that it became more accessible for everyday use than "holiday" spices like clove.