of the clan. He petitioned the authorities in Dublin, using primogeniture as the basis for his claim, whereby the oldest son should inherit his father's title regardless of his age at the time of his father's death. The English Commission in Dublin was receptive to his argument since they preferred to have the English procedure followed throughout Ireland. In addition Sir Owen had lost influence in Dublin due to implication in the Desmond Rebellion. The Commission found in favor of Dónal, who was now The O'Sullivan Beare. Sir Owen had to be content with Whiddy island and part of Bantry. He died the following year and was succeeded by his son, another Sir Owen. The O'Sullivans and other clans provided shelter to 12-year-old Gerald FitzGerald when troops sought to capture him as the last heir to the Earlship of Desmond. In the late 1590s, it was the Sullivan Mor clan and their close allies the McSweenys who bore the brunt of the fighting with the English forces. Donal, however, held the O'Sullivan Beare clan, held back from the fighting until the O'Donnells and O'Neills of Ulster entered the campaign. After 1600 By the year 1600 all of Munster was in a turmoil. As retribution for their support of the Desmond rebellion, the Munster clans lost over of their land to English settlers. When the Earl of Clancarty died in 1596 his lands were parceled out as well to settlers. King Philip III of Spain agreed to send help to his co-religionists in Ireland under the command of Don Juan D'Aquila. Rather than landing in Ulster, as suggested by O'Neill, the Spanish forces landed at Kinsale in County Cork to avoid encountering English warships in the Irish Sea. The war weary and decimated Munster clans had difficulty mustering an army to join the Ulster and Spanish forces. The Spanish were given the responsibility of forming the garrisons for the castles of the O'Driscolls and the O'Sullivans so as to free the Irish troops for the battles to come. The rest of the four thousand Spanish soldiers remained at Kinsale to await the arrival of the Ulster forces. Donal O'Sullivan Beare was given command of the Munster forces, which consisted mainly of soldiers of his clan and those of the O'Driscolls, McSweeneys, and O'Connor Kerry. Daniel O'Sullivan Mor could only contribute token support because of the losses he had sustained in the