About

Gail Lenhoff is a Professor and the Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Slavic, East European & Eurasian Languages & Cultures at UCLA. She earned her B.A. in Comparative Literature from the University of Michigan in 1971, with a focus on Russian, French, and German modernism. She completed her M.A. in Slavic Languages and Literatures in 1974 and her Ph.D. in Slavic Languages and Literatures in 1978, specializing in Medieval Russian literature. Her research concentrates on Medieval Russian literature from 988 to 1700, Byzantine, Kievan, and Muscovite political and economic history, Orthodox liturgy and theology, iconography, textual criticism, and form criticism. Lenhoff has authored several books, including studies on early Russian hagiography, royal genealogy, and Russian history and culture, and has contributed extensively to the understanding of Russian literary and religious traditions. Her scholarly work is characterized by a detailed textual and socio-cultural analysis of Russian historical and religious texts, emphasizing their role in shaping Russian cultural identity and historical consciousness.

Research topics

• Art
• History
• Sociology
• Political Science
• Literature
• Archaeology
• Demography
• Ancient history
• Psychology
• Law
• Linguistics
• Philosophy
• Classics
• Genealogy

Selected publications

• The Notion of "Uncorrupted Relics" in Early Russian Culture

  2024-07-25

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• The Notion of “Uncorrupted Relics” in Early Russian Culture

  University of California Press eBooks · 2024

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Art
  • History
  • Literature
  PublisherDOI

• Did the Rostov Church Collect Tribute from the Horde?

  Canadian-American Slavic Studies · 2023

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Political Science
  • Sociology
  • History

  Abstract A medieval narrative reports on unusual measures taken by the khans in response to economic and financial crises in Suzdalia after the Mongol census there in 1257/58. Correlation of the tale’s testimony with chronicles, charters and accounts of Mongol practices in conquered lands sheds new light on relationships between the Rostov bishops and the Horde that developed during the period of flux when the collection of tribute had not yet been regularized.

  PublisherDOI

• 2. From The Structure of the Artistic Text

  Academic Studies Press eBooks · 2020 · 164 citations

  • Art
  • Psychology
  • Linguistics
  DOI

• The Book of Degrees and the Illuminated Chronicle: a comparative analysis

  Revue des études slaves · 2016-01-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  On a coutume de considérer que le Livre des degrés de la généalogie impériale et la Chronique enluminée d’Ivan le Terrible sont des projets narratifs différents, émanant de scriptoria distincts. Le Livre des degrés donne un exposé novateur et théologique de l’histoire russe, divisé par règnes, soulignant que la Providence divine a favorisé l’affirmation du royaume russe à travers les générations, de saint Vladimir à Ivan le Terrible. Il met en avant la symphonie des pouvoirs temporel et spirituel et accorde une place privilégiée aux récits hagiographiques. La Chronique enluminée revient à un exposé strictement annalistique, emprunté pour l’essentiel à la Chronique de Nikon (v. 1520 1539) et à ses continuations. Moins structuré, il n’hésite pas non plus à retenir des épisodes peu flatteurs pour la dynastie, qui avaient été gommés ou atténués dans le Livre des degrés. Pourtant, la Chronique enluminée reprend aussi des passages entiers du Livre des degrés, particulièrement certains récits de miracle ; elle est profondément marquée par sa vision religieuse. En fait, si elle a rejeté les innovations formelles du Livre des degrés, elle assimile son message, mais sous une forme narrative plus conservatrice. Les miniatures ont une orientation similaire, puisqu’elles utilisent essentiellement des modèles iconographiques religieux, y compris pour représenter les épisodes de l’histoire profane.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Florent Mouchard, la Maison de Smolensk : une dynastie princière du Moyen Âge russe (1125‑1404). Paris, Institut d’études slaves, 2015, 308 pages

  Revue des études slaves · 2016-05-02

  article1st authorCorresponding

  This monograph offers the first dedicated history of the Smolensk princely dynasty since P V. Golubovskij’s Istorija Smolenskoj zemli do nacala XV st. (1895). F. Mouchard’s book does not replace Golubovskij’s magisterial narrative, which remains indispensable for any scholarly treatment of Smolensk. Rather, it narrows and sharpens the focus, makes important corrections and adopts a theoretical approach better reflecting the realities of the period. The political history of the “Smolensk” prince...

  Publisher

• Florent Mouchard, la Maison de Smolensk : une dynastie princière du Moyen Âge russe (1125‑1404)

  Revue des études slaves · 2016-01-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  This monograph offers the first dedicated history of the Smolensk princely dynasty since P V. Golubovskij’s Istorija Smolenskoj zemli do načala XV st. (1895). F. Mouchard’s book does not replace Golubovskij’s magisterial narrative, which remains indispensable for any scholarly treatment of Smolensk. Rather, it narrows and sharpens the focus, makes important corrections and adopts a theoretical approach better reflecting the realities of the period. The political history of the “Smolensk” prince...

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Ivan le Terrible, ou le Métier de tyran. By Pierre Gonneau. Paris: Editions Tallandier, 2014. 556 pp. Appendix. Notes. Bibliography. Chronology. Tables. Maps. €26.00, paper.

  Slavic Review · 2015-01-01

  article1st authorCorresponding

  An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.

  PublisherDOI

• Introduction

  Russian History · 2015-02-06

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• The Literary Sources

  Russian History · 2015-02-06 · 1 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  While Kievan and Suzdalian annals attest that interethnic marriages between Rus’ princes and women of the steppe and the Horde occurred regularly and were accepted by the Rus’ church and society, Muscovite churchmen wrote idealized narratives of converted Tatars, which legitimized the contemporary annexation of eastern lands and subsequent large-scale conversion in their time and were incorporated into commemoration books and family genealogical records.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Ann Kleimola

  University of Nebraska–Lincoln

  2 shared

• Simon Franklin

  2 shared

• Gosudarstvennyĭ istoricheskiĭ muzeĭ

  2 shared

• Averil Cameron

  1 shared

• Daniel Caner

  University of California, Los Angeles

  1 shared

• Ludolf Muller

  1 shared

• Andrea Sterk

  University of California, Los Angeles

  1 shared

• John Haldon

  Princeton University

  1 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Slavic Languages and Literatures

  University of California, Los Angeles

  1990

• M.A., Slavic Languages and Literatures

  University of California, Los Angeles

  1985

• B.A., Slavic Languages and Literatures

  University of California, Los Angeles

  1983

Awards & honors

• Festschrift for Janet Martin (2015)
• The Book of Royal Degrees and the Genesis of Russian Histori…
• Culture and Identity in Muscovy : 1359-1584 (1997)