The Château de Castelnaud is a medieval fortress in Castelnaud-la-Chapelle, overlooking the Dordogne river in Périgord. It was built to face its rival, the Château de Beynac, across the river. The oldest documents date to the 13th century, during the Albigensian Crusade, when the Cathar castellan Bernard de Casnac held it. The article names no architect, founder, construction years, style, materials or dimensions.
Simon de Montfort took the castle and installed a garrison, but Bernard retook it and hanged the garrison. During the Hundred Years' War its castellans owed allegiance to the Plantagenets, while the lords of Beynac served the French king. It was gradually abandoned and was a ruin by the French Revolution.
Restored and privately owned, it is open to the public and houses a museum of medieval warfare with reconstructions of siege engines, mangonels and trebuchets. It is a monument historique.
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