It's a character type that shows up occasionally in fiction: the arrogant nobleman who uses his superior sword skills to essentially bully his peers. He does whatever he wants and challenges anyone who stands up to him to a duel, killing them and cowing all the others.
Is there a historical basis for this? Could such blatant behavior even be possible?
Dueling bullying certainly happened in the army, where fighting was more central than in civilian life and served to weed out weak individuals. There was an idea that he who could not defend himself in a duel would be unable to defend their Prince, so if he died, too bad. There was even a case of an officer who was promoted purely because of his dueling skills. In the British army, it was somewhat ambiguous, on the one hand, there was a court in which disputes could be solved peacefully, on the other hand, if someone challenged you to a duel and you refused, you could get fired for it, as refusing a duel was "unbecoming for an officer and a gentleman".
Anyway, back to bullying.
Every army had its bullies who delighted in violence and sought out prospective victims. Lieutenant Eid recalled that while on service in America in 1780 he was forced to fight a lieutenant Callender of the 42d with whom he declined to share a glass of punch. Eid succesfully defended himself and "afterwards was informed that Captain C., being an uncommon good swordsman, often insulted strangers in a similar manner". The Hessian officer Lieutenant Joseph Charles Philip von Krafft was often depressed and irritable during his service in America, which was usually confined to garrison duty. [...] His diary mentions numerous quarrels and duels that seem to have provided an outlet for his pent-up aggression. He does not seem to have fought for a higher motive than that.
There were also older officers who pressured unwilling subordinates into fighting. In the French army dueling was forbidden, but in practice it happened all the time and only those who killed their opponent were punished.
Of course dueling also happened in civilian life and there it could also be used as a form of bullying. It was used as a way in which the priviliged could assert their prestige and social status, though I don't know what happened to them if they killed someone. In the same way as in the military, you can't really refuse a duel because if you do, your honor dies and you become excluded.
Source: Armstrong Starkey, War in the Age of Enlightenment, 1700-1789. p. 71-78.
They definitely existed:
"Montmorency-Bouteville, a notorious roaring boy, who had killed twenty-two men already, demonstrated what he thought of the King, the Cardinal [Richelieu] and the edict [punishing duelling with death] by fighting a duel in the Place Royale under Richelieu's own window in broad daylight. To his great surprise, he was arrested and sentenced in accordance with the new law."
"To pardon Bouteville would be to show that the King himself condoned the breaking of royal edicts. On June 22nd, 1627, the astonished young man mounted the scaffold."
From "Richelieu and the French Monarchy", by C.V. Wedgwood.