In the meantime he had taken part as a cavalryman in the Battle of Campaldino (June 11, 1289) against Ghibelline Arezzo and in the military operations two months later against the Pisan castle of Caprona. Following the overthrow of Giano della Bella in 1295, and the subsequent reform of his Ordinamenti di Giustizia (Ordinances of Justice) of 1293, which had severely limited the power of the nobility, the poet enrolled himself in the Guild of Doctors and Pharmacists (for his philosophical studies) and became politically active. Between November 1295 and April 1296, he was a member of the special Council to the Captain of the People (upholder of popular authority in parallel with the podestà, or supreme authority), although he never took the floor and in fact five times had to justify his absence from meetings. Between May and September 1296 he belonged to the general Council of the Hundred (citizens' parliament) and supported legislation against the magnates. The moral and democratic leanings displayed in these stands was also expressed by Dante in the above mentioned canzoni celebrating the moral virtues of nobility and loveliness.