Although the Historia Ecclesie Abbendonensis, or History of the Church of Abingdon, names Ælfric as abbot, the abbatial lists do not record him as such.
[5] Between 991 and 993, Ælfric rose to the Bishopric of Ramsbury,[6] and possibly continued to hold office of abbot of St Albans while bishop.
He was translated, or moved with appropriate ecclesiastical ceremony, to Canterbury on 21 April 995[7] at a witenagemot held at Amesbury.
[10] The story that his brother was chosen first for Canterbury but refused, stems from confusion on the part of Matthew of Paris and historians generally hold the entire episode to be untrue.
The letter also urged Wulfsige to exhort the laity to strive for justice in their dealings with others, help widows and orphans, not fight, as well as other moral precepts.
[19] He also acted as a royal judge, once being ordered by King Æthelred to adjudicate a case between thegns, or local noblemen.
His will survives and in it he left ships to the people of Wiltshire and Kent, with his best one, equipped for sixty men, going to King Æthelred.