 The original foundation confirmed by Cædwalla to Wilfrid was 87 hides.According to Brihthelm the land was fraudulently seized from the church by a certain Ælfsige, against the canons of the Council of Nicaea (325), when he was raised to the episcopal seat of the 'Gewisse' (West Saxons).Several historians have suggested that the Council of Nicaea reference that bishops should not take over another bishops land infers that the Ælfsige who seized the lands at Selsey, would have been a bishop.