A gentlewoman (from the Latin gentilis, belonging to a gens, and English 'woman') in the original and strict sense is a woman of good family, analogous to the Latin generosus and generosa.
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From the time of Queen Mary I and Queen Elizabeth I, the title Gentlewoman of Her Majesty's Bedchamber was borne by ladies serving the Queen of England, later becoming Lady of the Bedchamber.
The eighteenth-century gentlewoman Mrs. Mary Dixie was heiress to the traitor George Brooke (who was attainted and executed for his part in the Bye Plot against James I) and his wife Elizabeth, eldest sister of the last Baron Burgh; Brooke had been brother and heir to the last Baron Cobham of Kent, who had been attainted for his part in the Main Plot.
There were some female equivalents, such as the portrait miniaturist Levina Teerlinc (daughter of Simon Bening), who served as a gentlewoman in the royal households of both Mary I and Elizabeth I, and Sofonisba Anguissola, who was court painter to Philip II of Spain and art tutor with the rank of lady-in-waiting to his third wife Elisabeth of Valois, a keen amateur artist.