In September 1051, Judith was forced to flee England for Bruges, along with her husband and in-laws, after Tostig's father Godwin, Earl of Wessex was exiled by King Edward the Confessor; however, they returned home the following year.

Judith was described as having been a "pious and inquisitive woman"; her piety was expressed in the many gifts and donations she made to the Church of St Cuthbert in Durham, which included landed estates and an ornate crucifix.

Judith, angered that women were not permitted to set foot inside the church and wishing to worship at his tomb, had decided to put Cuthbert's prohibition to the test by ordering her serving woman to go inside to see what repercussions would follow for breaking the holy decree (Judith had planned to go herself upon the latter's safe return); when the woman was about to enter the churchyard, she was stricken by a sudden, violent force of wind that left her infirm and eventually killed her.

[7] Throughout her life, she collected and commissioned many books and illuminated manuscripts, some of which are extant,[8] including the Gospels of Countess Judith, which are currently housed in Morgan Library & Museum in New York City.

In May 1066 following the succession of Harold to the English throne in January, he returned to England with a fleet provided by Baldwin to seek revenge on his brother.

A pair of Norwegian king-sagas, Fagrskinna and Morkinskinna, identify Skuli Konungsfóstri, male-line ancestor of King Inge II of Norway, as son of Tostig, but Heimskringla gives him different parentage.

Less than a month after Tostig's death, Judith's brother-in-law was killed at the Battle of Hastings by the Norman army led by her cousin, Duke William, who then became king of England.