Identifying the courtly heroine in an Old French romance often requires only a glance: her remarkable beauty makes her easy to recognize. Lengthy enumerations of a lady's perfect physical traits – from her long blond hair to her slim hips – further underscore the importance of her visible attractiveness. While intangible traits are essential, too, composers typically pay them less heed. Such is not the case, however, in Raoul de Houdenc's thirteenth- century Meraugis de Portlesguez. From the opening episode, the tale's heroine, Lidoine, stands out from her peers not only for her extraordinary loveliness, but also for her exceptional courtliness. The attention to her inner qualities as well as on her looks allows Raoul to examine the importance of each in a courtly lady and suggests that the former plays a key role in determining worth. The romance's eponymous hero also holds courtliness in particularly high regard, both in matters of love and in his own behavior. Yet Raoul's depiction of courtliness proves to be more complex than it originally seems. Even as he insists upon the privileged place of inner nobility, Raoul invites the audience to consider carefully the relationship between courtliness and success, revealing that courtly behavior is no guarantee of victory.