Tithes and monastery barns already existed in the early Middle Ages. They served as warehouses for the acceptance and storage of the natural tax, the "tithe". In Lüxem, the Counts of Manderscheid, among others, acted as bailiffs for the Abbey of St. Maximin in Trier and collected the tithes for the monks.
The tithe lords had the large tithe barns built where the taxes in kind could be collected and stored best and most safely, e.g. in a tithe-liable village. In many cases, the tithe barns were the largest buildings in the village after or even before the church, not only because they had to accommodate considerable amounts of various taxes in kind, but also because they demonstrated the claim to power of the local tithe lords. In their architectural diversity, tithe barns reflect regional and epochal differences in architectural style and materials, as well as the varying economic power of their builders. Preserved tithe barns are now often listed as historic monuments. Often, the use has been adapted to modern needs; in Lüxem, for example, the fire department, founded in 1907, was housed in the former tithe barn for a long time.
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