How old can Spanish texts be before they are too old?

[JPablo]

I agree with everybody... I'll tackle Mio Cid one of these fine days (de los sos oxos tan fuerte mientre lorando = llorando fuertemente de los sus ojos = llorando muy fuerte por los ojos = llorando a lágrima vida = "strongly crying through his eyes" = sobbing one’s heart out, crying one’s eyes out) but even fluent Spanish speakers have quite a hard time with such an Old Spanish...

Something like Reverte, Umbral, Cela, current authors may be fine to start... or just RLStevenson like Spanishpease says, "La flecha negra" (translated into Spanish) maybe useful to learn... Fairy tales are also useful, as you have both versions, Spanish and English and you can cross reference... (My two euros...)