Vitiges or Witiges (died 540) was king of the Ostrogoths in Italy from 536 to 540.
He succeeded to the throne of Italy in the early stages of the Gothic War, as Belisarius had quickly captured Sicily the previous year and was currently in southern Italy at the head of the forces of Justinian I, the Eastern Roman Emperor.
Vitiges was the husband of Amalasuntha's only surviving child, Matasuntha. The panegyric upon the wedding in 536 was delivered by Cassiodorus, the praetorian prefect, and survives, a traditionally Roman form of rhetoric that set the Gothic dynasty in a flatteringly Roman light.
Soon after he was made king, Vitiges had his predecessor Theodahad murdered. Theodahad had enraged the Goths because he failed to send any assistance to Naples when it was besieged by the Byzantines, led by Belisarius.
Justinian's general Belisarius took both Vitiges and Matasuntha as captives to Constantinople, and Vitiges died there, without any children. After his death, Matasuntha married the patrician Germanus Justinus, a nephew of Justinian I by his sister Vigilantia.
Vitiges (22 March 1973 – after 1987) was a French-bred Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He was one of the best French-trained two-year-olds of 1976 when he won four races including the Prix Robert Papin and Prix Morny, as well as finishing second in the Prix de la Salamandre. In the following year he won the Prix Djebel and finished second in both the 2000 Guineas and the Prix Jacques le Marois before being transferred to be trained in England. In October 1976 he recorded his greatest success when recording an upset win over a strong field in the Champion Stakes which led to his being rated the best three-year-old to race in the United Kingdom that year. He ran without success as a four-year-old and was retired to stud, where he had some success as a breeding stallion.
Background
Vitiges was a chestnut horse with a white star and white socks on his hind legs bred in France by Henry de la Héronnière. He was the best horse sired by Phaeton, an Irish-bred grey stallion best known for winning the Grand Prix de Paris in 1967. Vitiges' dam Vale, won at least two races and produced several other winners including Virunga, who finished third behind Allez France and Dahlia in the Prix de Diane. As a granddaughter of the broodmare, Vale was related to many other good winners including Athens Wood, Bolkonski, Dibidale (Irish Oaks, Yorkshire Oaks), Tony Bin and Viva Pataca. As a yearling, Vitiges was sold for ₣72,000 and entered the ownership of Mrs Marc Laloum. The colt was sent into training with Gérard Philippeau in France.