Negative Space

I am amazed at the decisions that led to the production of this page. Did the capital have to be that big? Could the capital have incorporated the hole?

Origenes, Commentarius in Epistolam Pauli ad Romanos, interprete Rufino.
Source: gallica.bnf.fr

Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des manuscrits, Latin 1643, fol. 47v.