Pierre de Castelnau (died
15 January 1208), French ecclesiastic, was born in the
diocese of Montpellier.
In 1199 he was archdeacon of
Maguelonne, and was appointed by
Pope Innocent III as one of the
legates for the suppression of the
Cathar heresy in
Languedoc.
In 1202, when a monk in the
Cistercian abbey of Fontfroide,
Narbonne, he was designated to similar work, first in
Toulouse, and afterwards at
Viviers and Montpellier.
In 1207 he was in the Rhone valley and in Provence, where he became involved in the strife between the
count of Baux and
Raymond, count of Toulouse. Castelnau was assassinated on 15 January 1208, quite possibly by an agent of Raymond. He was
beatified in the year of his death by Pope Innocent III, who believed Raymond responsible.