The site of the Château de Pézenas, a medieval castle in the French town of Pézenas, in the département of l'Hérault, is currently being refurbished with a view to opening to the public. A castle is first mentioned on the site, a butte just outside and dominating the town, around 990. However, a plaque on the site claims that it was founded by the Celts in 407BC and that the site was also a fortress of Julius Caesar. A document of 1118 records that the Count of Béziers, Bernard Athon, ceded the castellum of Pézenas to his son, Raimon. Louis VIII, in 1226, and Louis IX in 1252, stayed here. The castle became a royal castellany in 1262.