 In one of King Æthelred's so-called 'restitution charters', ealdorman Ælfric and Wulfgar, bishop of Ramsbury, are singled out as greedy men whose bad counsel had misled the king into violating the privileges of Abingdon Abbey, such as the right to elect its own abbot.Ælfric is said to have bribed the king and so to have bought the abbacy for his brother Eadwine.There is some uncertainty among historians as to whether this Ælfric, who is described as "maior domus regis" by the "Historia Ecclesie Abbendonensis" (History of Abingdon Abbey), refers to Ælfric Cild or to Ælfric, ealdorman of Hampshire (d. 1016).