 It is thought that he married the daughter of Ealhhelm, ealdorman of central Mercia, and hence that he was brother-in-law to Ælfhere, ealdorman in Mercia between 956 and 983.Her name may have been Æthelflæd.Her brother Ælfheah, ealdorman in Wessex, left a will "probably drawn up in the late 960s" in which he bequeathed estates to Ælfwine, his "sister's son", who was probably Ælfric's son with her.