Gospels of Judith of Flanders (MS M.709)

While Judith was in England, she and her first husband, Tostig, earl of Northumbria, made donations to various religious establishments, including a fine crucifix for Durham Cathedral. She also commissioned several Gospel Books, which she later took with her in exile. They were evidently not yet bound, as these silver-gilt repoussé figures of Christ in Majesty and symbols of the four evangelists are probably Continental work of the last third of the eleventh century. Many of the gems, especially those with foil behind them, are nineteenth-century replacements added after the manuscript was acquired by the Earl of Leicester, Holkham Hall.