This initial comes from a five-volume Bible, imposing in size and vigorously decorated, that belonged to the Cistercian abbey of Pontigny. In the twelfth century this monastery in the diocese of Sens was a scholar's haven and a place of refuge for Thomas Becket before his martyrdom. During the French Revolution, however, the monastery's celebrated library was confiscated and neglected. The initial and another from the same Bible (acc. no. 1999.364.1), remarkably, have survived. Their preservation is due in large part to the nineteenth-century book publishers who recognized their extraordinarily accomplished design.