[5][6] The description has been interpreted as indicating that Ælfric had married into a family of royal rank and possibly that he "had a hand in raising the young Eadwig".
Although he initially contested the alleged outcome of the transaction, he consented on accepting from the bishop a further amount of silver (13 librae) as well as some land at Ræsen (possibly Market Rasen, Lincolnshire) and Titchmarsh, Northamptonshire.
The Liber Eliensis specifies that the meeting of King Edgar at which Bishop Æthelwold bought land at Gransden, was attended by Ælfhere, Æthelwine and Ælfric Cild.
[13] According to the same source, Ælfric was joining Æthelwold, bishop of Winchester, the young ætheling Æthelred, "then an earl [comes]", and his mother Queen Ælfthryth when they were doing business at Ely Abbey sometime in the reign of King Edward the Martyr (975-978).
Sometime between 971 and 980, Ælfric witnessed a charter, issued in the absence of the king, which records that Ælfhere sold land to Ordgar, abbot of Abingdon.
[16] The Liber Eliensis names Ælfhere, Æthelwine and Ælfric Cild as those present at a local council which was held at Slaughter, Gloucestershire sometime after King Edgar's death.
The cartulary-chronicle Historia Ecclesie Abbendonensis written in the 12th century claims that he left for Denmark, assembled a band of Viking soldiers and returned to attack England.
In the Maldon poem, he is portrayed as a young man in the personal household troop of Byrhtnoth, ealdorman of Essex, who led the fateful attack against the Viking army and in the event, perished himself.
Following Byrhtnoth's death and the flight of several of his men, a speech is attributed to Ælfwine in which he urges his fellow warriors to remember the heroic boasts they made at the drinking table and exhorts them to avenge their lord, against all odds.