Born in Orléans, he studied medicine there and in Paris (gaining his Bachelor on 21 April 1596) and became interested in Arabic in order to read medical texts written in that language.
In 1598, Henri IV sent him to Marrakesh to the Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur to replace Arnoult de Lisle, who had been recalled to Paris.
The founder of the Chair had been Guillaume Postel, and Hubert succeeded Arnoult de Lisle, who had been his predecessor as physician to the Sultan of Morocco, from 1588 to 1598.
[2] He retired to Orléans, where he died on 20 June 1614, aged forty-seven, and was buried in the cloister of the monastery of St. Samson, where his uncle was prior.
Isaac Casaubon was another famous Arabist of that time, as well as Jean Martin, who would also become professor at the Collège de France,[3] and Abudacnus, an Egyptian Copt from Cairo who gave lessons in Arabic to European linguists.